TV
Fourth season starts: Future of the series “Das Boot” unclear
Hannie Lessing (Rosalie Thomass), the sister of submarine commander Klaus Hoffmann (Rick Okon), plays an important role in the fourth season of “Das Boot”. photo
© Stanislav Honzík/Sky Studios/Bavaria Fiction//dpa
“The Boat” is back. The fourth season on Sky has everything a good series needs. What happens next with the complex production?
The fourth season of the award-winning series “Das Boot” starts. At the pay channel The six episodes can be seen on Sky TV and on the streaming portal Wow from this Saturday (September 23rd, one episode per week). It’s safe to say that the season has everything it takes to be a good series.
“Das Boot” – a story about the German navy in World War II – has always been material that attracted viewers. Example: 1981, the legendary war drama film based on the book. The series “Das Boot” has had its fans for years now. Briefly summarized: In the fourth season we find ourselves in the war year 1943. Submarine commander Klaus Hoffmann (Rick Okon) is of course back as the protagonist. In Berlin he is courted, but also watched like a hawk.
His sister Hannie Lessing (Rosalie Thomass), who gets on the trail of criminal activities, plays an important role in the season. Thomass is a prominent new cast in the series. The whole thing is embedded in the war situation in which Nazi Germany is coming under pressure because the navy is suffering high losses in the Mediterranean. Also there: Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht (“These Ochsenknechts”) as sailor “Nudel”.
Director Gansel: “”Das Boot” is so current that it hurts”
Directed by Dennis Gansel (“The Wave”). Did the current Russian war of aggression in Ukraine influence the way in which such material in the fourth season was implemented? “Absolutely. Not only did one become painfully aware of the topicality of the topic again,” Gansel told the German Press Agency. “We also felt particularly responsible for researching the narrative arcs of this season particularly carefully in order to give younger viewers in particular an authentic portrayal of characters and situations during this time.” The director added: “A historical series can sometimes tell us a lot about the present. I sometimes thought: “The Boat” is so current that it hurts.”
Will there be a fifth season? The managing director of Content Bavaria Fiction and producer of “Das Boot”, Marcus Ammon, responds to this question: “There are ideas for another season, but we don’t know at this point whether it will continue. If it continues, then with a new partner, since Sky, as is well known, decided a few months ago to no longer produce its own German productions.”
Ammon commented on the production costs for the fourth season as follows: “Without giving any specific figures, the production costs are in the multi-digit million range, as they have been since season one.” “Das Boot” is a high-end series that tells both the submarine war and the development on land in the Second World War – equipment, costumes, but also the post-production are complex. “Das Boot” is a global brand, so high-quality production that meets international standards was important.