Filming for the fourth season of Das Boot, an international co-production that follows events surrounding a German U-boat during WWII, kicked off in the Czech Republic in June and is currently filming in Prague’s city center. Scenes for the series have shot in Prague’s Old Town along with other locations across the city this summer.
Later this week, scenes for Das Boot will shoot in the area adjacent to Prague’s Old Town Square, with parts od Dlouhá, Masná, Týnská, and Kozí streets reserved for the production.
Following in the footsteps of Wolgang Petersen’s classic 1981 feature, originally made as a TV miniseries before being recut and released in cinemas worldwide, Das Boot is based on the real-life experiences of war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim, who fictionalized his experience on a German U-boat for the 1975 book of the same name.
Unlike the earlier production, the new TV series splits its time between life on the submarine and on land, and includes perspectives from the French resistance, British Royal Navy, and other Allied forces.
Across its first three seasons, Das Boot has featured international stars such as Vicky Krieps (Corsage, The Phantom Thread), Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield, Masters of Sex), Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men), and James D’Arcy (Cloud Atlas). Season three contained a featured role for Ray Stevenson (Punisher: War Zone) as a Royal Navy commander tracking down the titular German U-boat.
Tom Wlaschiha on the Prague set of Das Boot. Photo courtesy Stephan Rabold / Bavaria Fiction GmbH / Sky Deutschland GmbH
A cast for Das Boot’s fourth season has not been officially confirmed, but series stars Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H’ghar on Game of Thrones), Franz Dinda, Rick Okon, and Pierre Kiwitt are likely to return to the production. A high-profile guest star or two for this season, or a return from those featured in earlier seasons, is also be expected.
Filmmaker Dennis Gansel (Mechanic: Resurrection) is directing six episodes for Das Boot’s fourth season; previous seasons have contained 8-10 episodes each.
In Prague, production on all four seasons of Das Boot has taken place since 2017, making it one of the longest-running foreign productions to film in the Czech capital.
Filming for the series has largely taken place at Prague’s Barrandov Studio, where the submarine set featured in the film has been meticulously created on a large sound stage and submarine exteriors on a studio backlot. The main set has been dismantled and rebuilt for production on each season; it takes about three months just to reconstruct the submarine.
“The biggest challenge is moving it,” Jana Hrbkova, head of production for the Stillking Films, told the Czech Film Commission earlier this year.
“At the end of each season, we have to dismantle the entire set, remove all its parts, store them in a warehouse, and move the individual sections out of the studio. It’s logistically and technically quite demanding – but we’ve done it six times so far.”
Filming for Das Boot has also taken place on the streets of Prague and elsewhere around the Czech Republic, filling in for various WWII-era locations across Europe.
Das Boot has been broadcast on Sky TV in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, and can be streamed on Sky services where available. While Das Boot streamed on Hulu in the United States, it is not streaming on Disney+, which carries Hulu content in the Czech Republic.
Lead photo: Das Boot’s submarine exterior on Barrandov Studio’s backlot courtesy Stephan Rabold / Bavaria Fiction GmbH / Sky Deutschland GmbH
2 Responses
Most story-lines are ended in this season, some rather abruptly. Sky Atlantic the producers decided to get out of the scripted drama production business. This means the end of Babylon Berlin too. There is only 6 episodes so it feel a bit rushed. The longer than usual hiatus in production means that not all actors where called back for this season. This introduced a story plot the once again could not be fully developed due to the brief 6 episode season. Still they did end the show and not on a cliff hanger but in a satisfactorily predictable way. The script changes I would have made to the season would be that the Gestapo agent from the first 3 seasons would have faked his death so that he could escape a life he found increasingly less endurable. Knowing of the plan to smuggle the gold through Lisbon to South America he and the other main players would find them selves on the same U-boot. Flashbacks would explain haw they all came to be in the same sub crossing the Atlantic. The final scene in the final episode, in order to highlight the absurdity of war, would be a beat for beat repeat of the first scene of the first show.