Rex – Vienna Calling Gets Season 2 and Global Sales
Six new feature-length mysteries are now shooting in Vienna for Rex – Vienna Calling.
Production is underway on the second season, with Beta Film acting as worldwide distributor, meaning it sells the series to broadcasters outside its home markets, Variety reported on 30 September. Each new instalment is built like a TV movie rather than a standard episode. That gives the dog and his handler one closed case per outing.
The series is the latest incarnation of the three-decade-old Rex – A Cop's Best Friend franchise, a long-running favourite about a police dog and his human partner. It stars Maximilian Brückner as detective Max Steiner, who teams with German Shepherd Rex to investigate killings in the Austrian capital. Much of the appeal sits in that pairing. Rex's behaviour cracks cases. Steiner does the talking.
It is produced by MR Film in co-production with SAT.1 in Germany and ORF in Austria, with backing from FISAplus, the Austrian Television Fund and the state of Lower Austria. The first season started on SAT.1 and ORF on Monday 13 April. That launch laid the ground for the recommission.
The numbers explain why more episodes were ordered. Season one opened to almost 1.6 million viewers on SAT.1 in Germany, with a 7% share overall and 9.9% among viewers aged 14 to 49, according to figures reported by Variety. Share here means the proportion of people watching television at that time. In Austria the season averaged 701,000 viewers on ORF with a 27% share. In Italy the premiere on Rai 2 drew more than 750,000 viewers and a 5.6% share, rising above one million once on-demand and catch-up viewing were counted.
International sales have followed those launches. The series has been sold to SBS in Australia, Rai in Italy and TV 2 in Denmark. Further buyers include Alpha TV in Greece, HRT in Croatia, Planet TV in Slovenia, STVR in Slovakia, Nova in Bulgaria and TVR in Romania. Baltic deals cover Duo Media Networks in Estonia, SIA Tet in Latvia and LNK in Lithuania, while Action Channel in Japan and SHANT TV in Armenia have also acquired the show.
For fans, this means more of the central team. Steiner and Rex. New victims. Familiar Viennese streets. The format stays simple so new viewers can join at any episode.
Rex has long travelled well beyond Austria. The Canadian remake Hudson & Rex was recently renewed for a tenth season. The Vienna original is now building its own second run at the same time.
