Lizzy Caplan, Rick Okon board Sky’s $28m ‘Das Boot’ Sequel (EXCLUSIVE)

Rick Okon (“Tatort”) will captain the U-612 U-boat in the upcoming “Das Boot” series, with Lizzy Caplan (“Masters of Sex”), and August Wittgenstein (“The Crown”) also cast in the €25 million drama.

A 104-day shoot for the high-end series starts at end-August and will take in La Rochelle, Prague, Malta and Munich. Billed as a sequel to the 1981 film and Lothar-Günther Buchheim novel, the show will go out on Sky’s pay TV channels in Germany, Italy, and the U.K.

Other cast members include Vicky Krieps (“Colonia Dignidad”), Jonathan Zaccaϊ (“Robin Hood”), Leonard Scheicher (“Finsterworld”), Robert Stadlober (“Summer Storm”), Franz Dinda (“The Cloud”), and Stefan Konarske (“The Young Karl Marx”). German filmmaker Andreas Prochaska (“The Dark Valley”) will direct the eight-part series, which launches on Sky next fall.

Sonar Entertainment, Sky, and Bavaria Fernsehproduktion are making the series. Moritz Polter and Oliver Vogel, are the executive producers for Bavaria Fernsehproduktion, and said in statement: “We’re excited to open the next chapter on board U-612 and in La Rochelle and locations across Europe with our internationally renowned actors and actresses, high caliber junior cast and acclaimed director Andreas Prochaska.”

Carsten Schmidt, CEO of Sky Deutschland, added that the new series will complement “Babylon Berlin” and its other originals: “”Das Boot” perfectly suits our range of top class Sky Original Productions,” he said.

The series will pick up the World War II story in the fall of 1942 and follow the war at sea as seen through the eyes of the young U-boat crew, and events on land, and the French Resistance. Sonar will handle distribution outside of the Sky territories.

“This new production, supported by tremendous writing, an acclaimed international cast and crew, stunning locations and a budget more commonly associated with feature films, will be a fitting sequel to the iconic work that it follows,” said Jenna Santoianni, Sonar’s EVP, television series.

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