28/05/2021 - German director Sven Bohse is shooting a six-episode series based on the life of the legendary Empress Elisabeth of Austria

German streaming platform TVNOW, which is affiliated with the free TV station RTL, is producing a series that aims to reinterpret the life of an individual who is probably Austria's best-known personality from the past. The empress nicknamed Sisi has for decades been the subject of speculation and has already been depicted countless times on the big screen. Writers Robert Krause and Andreas Gutzeit now offer up their own version of her story with their new series, Sisi.

From now until August 2021, director Sven Bohse, a veteran of the German TV business, will shoot the series on location in Germany, specifically in Bavaria, as well as in Austria, Hungary, Lithuania and Latvia. In the six-part show, the imperial couple will be played by Swiss-born, Munich-based actress Dominique Devenport as Sisi, and German thesp Jannik Schümann as Franz. While Devenport is still in the early days of her career, Schümann can already look back on a wealth of international experience. Among his recent works are Dem Horizont so nah [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Tim Trachte and Jugend ohne Gott [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alain Gsponer.

The cast breathing life into the rest of the imperial family and their entourage includes Désirée Nosbusch as Archduchess Sophie, Franz's mother, as well as Tanja Schleiff as Countess Esterhazy, Paula Kober as Fanny, Julia Stemberger as Sisi's mother, Duchess Ludovika, and Giovanni Funiati as Count Andrassy.

Sisi is a co-production between TVNOW and Story House Pictures. Austria’s Satel Film and ORF and Germany’s Beta Film are also involved as partners. Beta Film will handle the worldwide distribution. Even before shooting began, the series had been sold to TF1 in France. It has been supported financially by the FFA and FFF Bayern. It is planned to air at the end of 2021 on TVNOW and in 2022 on ORF.