German TV Series ‘Sisi’ Returns to Lithuania

Neringa Kažukauskaite
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The second season of the German TV series “Sisi,” which follows the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (also known as Sisi), is currently shooting in Lithuania, Film New Europe reports.

The series is produced by Story House Pictures GmbH for RTL+ and serviced by the Lithuanian company UAB Nordic Productions. The shoot is benefiting from Lithuanian Film Center’s tax incentives.

More from Variety

The six-part second season is directed by Sven Bohse (“Dark Woods”) and Miguel Alexandre (“Spy City”), and it is written by Elena Hell, Svenja Rasocha, Robert Krause and Andreas Gutzeit.

More than 100 Lithuanians are part of the international team, including production designer Algirdas Garbačiauskas and costume designer Daiva Petrulytė.

The main filming locations in Lithuania are Vilnius and its surroundings, as well as Trakai, Kernavė and Rokiškis. The series will also be filmed in Latvia, with Cinevilla Films providing services, and Poland.

“We have been shooting in Lithuania and Latvia for years now. Our colleagues there have always delivered superior services and especially for period pieces I would not want to work anywhere else in Europe,” executive producer, showrunner and head writer Andreas Gutzeit told FNE.

The main characters are played by the Swiss-born actress Dominique Devenport (“Night Train to Lisbon”) as Sisi and German actor Jannik Schümann (“Charité”) as Franz, the Austrian Emperor. The cast also includes Désirée Nosbusch, David Korbmann, Tanja Schleiff and Julia Stemberger.

The premiere is set for the end of 2022 on RTL+.

- Credit: Courtesy of FNE
- Credit: Courtesy of FNE

Courtesy of FNE

The first season, which was partly filmed in Lithuania in 2021, won the Jupiter Award as the best German TV series in 2022 and it was sold to over 100 countries. Beta Cinema is handling world sales.

Romy Schneider starred as Sisi in a series of films in the 1950s. The character returned to the screens this year in “Corsage,” a film directed by Marie Kreutzer, which premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard. Vicky Krieps starred as the empress, when she is 40 years old and suffering from a psychological crisis brought on by the restrictions imposed on her. Krieps won the best performance award for a film in Un Certain Regard.

This article is published in partnership with online news service Film New Europe, which covers film and TV industry news from across Central and Eastern Europe.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.