'Das Boot' Trailer: The World War II Submarine Story Continues On Hulu

Wolfgang Petersen's 1981 movie Das Boot was nominated for six Academy Awards and is considered one of the best movies to ever come out of Germany. That's a high bar for a TV adaptation to clear, but thankfully Hulu's Das Boot TV show isn't burdened with depicting the exact same events – instead, it picks up nine months after the movie ends.

Take a look at the trailer for the upcoming series and meet the show's stacked cast, which includes Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex), Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men), and Tom Wlaschiha (Game of Thrones).

Period pieces are expensive to produce in general, and adding that huge submarine set (the same one used for the movie U-571) couldn't have helped keep the budget down. But this isn't a Hulu original – it was funded by the international network Sky, and the show has already aired in several European countries. So now Hulu gets to reap the rewards of having an expensive-looking show with a solid cast telling a story with name recognition.

The story is based on author Lothar-Günther Buchheim's novel Das Boot and its 1995 sequel Die Festung, it's written by Tony Saint (Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley, The Interceptor) and Johannes W. Betz (Der Tunnel, Die Spiegel-Affäre), and the series is directed by Andreas Prochaska (The Dark Valley, A Day for a Miracle).

Here's the official description:

A story of choices and survival, Das Boot explores the emotional torment of life during World War Two, and the brutal reality of living within a senseless war.

During the Autumn of 1942, in occupied France, U-612 is now ready for its maiden voyage, preparing to head into the increasingly brutal warfare with its young crewmen, including the new captain, Klaus Hoffmann. As the 40 young men take on their first mission, they struggle with the cramped and claustrophobic conditions of life underwater. Their personalities are pushed to the limit as tensions rise and loyalties begin to shatter. Meanwhile, at the port of La Rochelle, the world of Simone Strasser spirals out of control as she is engulfed in a dangerous liaison and forbidden love, torn between her loyalty for Germany and the Resistance, and causing her to question everything. Could all she believed to be true, in fact be a lie?

The entire first season of Das Boot will be available to stream on Hulu starting June 17, 2019.