THR: Royal Reboot ‘Sisi’ Sells Wide, Gets Second Season Greenlight (Exclusive)

The German period drama stars Dominique Devenport as teenage Empresses Elizabeth of Austria, in a role made famous by Romy Schneider in a series of films from the 1950s.

The reign of Sisi will continue.

German broadcaster RTL and production and sales outfit Beta Film have greenlit a second season of Sisi, a TV series based  based on the real-life 19th century royal romance between Elizabeth “Sisi” of Bavaria and her husband, Austrian-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph.

The Sisi story was turned into a series of iconic films in the 1950s starring legendary Austrian actress Romy Schneider as the teenage Empress. The films are holiday evergreens on European television and have found a new, younger audience on streaming platforms. The series reboot stars Swiss-American Dominique Devenport (Night Train to Lisbon) as Sisi and German actor Jannik Schümann (Charité) as Emperor Franz.

The first, six-episode season of Sisi, was a hit for RTL and for Beta, which has sold the show in more than 100 territories worldwide since its launch at the MIPTV international television market last year. The show was a ratings hit on German streamer RTL+ and the group’s linear channel RTL, and performed well across Europe, including on TF1 in France, in Italy on Canale5 and throughout Eastern Europe on Viasat World’s Epic Drama channel. Outside Europe, Sisi aired in Brasil on GloboTV, on Starz Entertainment in Latin America, and on Canada’s public broadcaster CBC.

On Wednesday, Beta and RTL confirmed they have greenlit a second season. Production, from Berlin-based Story House Pictures and Austria’s Satel Film, will begin shooting next week. Delivery is set for late 2022. Austrian public broadcaster ORF is back as the local network for season 2.

Andreas Gutzeit of Story House returns as head writer and showrunner for the second season and will produce the series together with Jens Freels in a co-production with Heinrich Ambrosch and Bettina Kuhn of Satel Film. RTL’s Hauke Bartel serves as executive producer on the series, together with Markus Böhlke and Sylke Poensgen. Sven Bohse (Dark Woods) is sharing directing duties with Miguel Alexandre (Spy City)

Beta is handling world sales and is shopping Sisi season 2 to international buyers at this year’s MIPTV.