Scripted

The saga continues: The multi-awarded and internationally praised series hit Babylon Berlin goes into its third season. The producing partners X Filme Creative Pool, ARD Degeto, Sky and Beta Film confirmed officially that shooting is set to be scheduled this fall in Berlin and at other original locations. The director/writer trio Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten and Achim von Borries are currently working on the scripts for ten new episodes, based on Volker Kutscher’s second Gereon Rath novel “The Silent Death.”

Babylon Berlin scored record ratings in Germany and abroad and received a lot of international attention; lauded as “fabulous and stunning...” (THE GUARDIAN), “dark, flashy, and addictive…” (NPR) and “the most bingeable new drama since ‘The Crown’” (VOGUE), the series has been sold to over 90 countries by Beta Film. The thrilling crime series swept up five German Television Awards earlier this year, among them Best Drama Series, the Grimme Award, the Austrian Television Award Romy and most recently the Magnolia Award at the Shanghai TV Festival, the most important TV festival in China.
The new season picks up in the early 1930ies, when the talkies start conquering the big screen, leaving many by the wayside: producers, cinema owners – and, of course, silent film stars. Inspector Gereon Rath encounters the dark side of the industry when one of the big stars is found dead.

The upcoming season will be shot in original locations in Berlin, at the Babelsberg Studio set “Neue Berliner Strasse”, one of the largest backlots in Europe and in North Rhine-Westphalia. Volker Bruch (“Generation War”) and Liv Lisa Fries (“The Wave”) join forces once more as inspector Gereon Rath and the up-and-coming homicide detective Charlotte Ritter.

Christine Strobl, CEO ARD Degeto: “The national and international response to this project has exceeded all our expectations. The third season of Babylon Berlin continues, as always pending the approval of our committees.”

Volker Herres, program director Das Erste: “The Free-TV premiere of Babylon Berlin will be the TV event of the year: The fact that we have already agreed with the production partners on a third season speaks for the great quality and the high value of the series.”

Carsten Schmidt, CEO Sky Germany: “The series has been a great success for Sky - critics and our viewers were equally excited. With the renewed season we are following the desire of our customers to experience further episodes of the story around Gereon Rath and Charlotte Ritter.”
Jan Mojto, CEO Beta Film: “Babylon Berlin has become a trademark abroad for the high quality of German television. It is an example for more and more productions from Europe reaching international standards.”

Producer Stefan Arndt, X-Filme: “From the beginning, as initiators of Babylon Berlin, we wanted to break new ground for high-quality productions from Germany for an international market and audience. The response from around the world shows that together with our entire creative team and all partners, we have succeeded.”

Producer Uwe Schott, X-Filme: “Such a high-ranked production is only possible with the great support from all our partners and in the end with national and European funding. A production of this size requires public support in Europe to compete internationally. We want to thank all our supporters who continue their funding for the third season.”

Babylon Berlin is produced by X Filme Creative Pool in co-production with ARD Degeto, Sky and Beta Film. The chief editors of Babylon Berlin are Christine Strobl, Sascha Schwingel, and Carolin Haasis (ARD Degeto), Caren Toenissen (WDR), and Marcus Ammon and Frank Jastfelder (Sky Deutschland). The producers for X Filme are Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott and Michael Polle, co-producers for Beta Film are Jan Mojto, Dirk Schürhoff and Moritz Herzogenberg. The first two seasons were supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe Media, the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and the German Motion Picture Fund. The development of season three is being funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.