ORF cult returns!

Commissioner Rex has two new masters again

The nation's "snoop" returns. At his side: the German Maximilian Brückner and the Styrian Ferdinand Seebacher

(Bild: ORF)

It was ORF's best-kept secret for a long time: Who would succeed Commissioner Rex more than 30 years after it started with Tobias Moretti and Karl Markovics? Now it's clear: the German Maximilian Brückner and the Styrian Ferdinand Seebacher are the new TV criminals at the side of the investigator with the cold snout.

Tobias Moretti, he's something like the father of all ex-Rex men. The ORF cult from the 1990s catapulted him and his brilliant sidekick Karl Markovics - and their successors in the years that followed - onto the red carpet and turned them all into TV stars.

Return to the ORF
Then, at the beginning of the 2000s, it was over. At least in Austria, as Peter Hajek and Peter Moser's idea prank continued to run in our Italian neighbors until 2014. After that, there was radio silence until rumors swirled that Commissioner Rex would return to television. It was ORF program director Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz herself who dropped the bombshell: "Commissioner Rex is returning home - to Vienna and to ORF. Together with SAT.1 and MR-Film, we are continuing the success story and sending the nation's 'sleuth' back on the hunt for criminals."

Detective Inspector Richard Moser: This role made Tobias Moretti a star between 1994 and 1998.

(Bild: ORF)

Detective Inspector Alexander Brandtner: Gedeon Burkhard played the top dog cop from 1998 to 2001.

(Bild: ORF)

Detective Inspector Marc Hoffmann: Alexander Pschill from Vienna played the investigator from 2002 to 2004.

(Bild: ORF)

And so the Munich "Tatort" investigator Maximilian Brückner and Styrian actor Ferdinand Seebacher ("Die Bergretter") will be in front of the cameras for the first recordings in spring 2025, before the first broadcast in 2026. For 35-year-old Seebacher, who was born in Schladming and has already appeared in the ORF hit "Walking on Sunshine" as well as on ARD and ZDF, the partner role alongside chief investigator Brückner is a stepping stone for other major roles. Because the fact is: so far, an appearance in the cast of Kommissar Rex has done no harm to any actor's later career.

MR producer Oliver Auspitz: "The bar is high - but Rex jumps higher. For sure!"

(Bild: Zwefo)

TV hit producer Auspitz confident of success
Producer Oliver Auspitz explains in the "Krone" why MR-Film opted for a mixed double and not a purely Austrian duo. "Because we looked for the best and most suitable actors and only then looked at the nationality. It also plays a role in the new storyline," says the maker of TV hits such as "Vienna Blood" and "Schnell ermittelt".

A ratings failure - after all, the German shepherd and his masters are being brought back from TV retirement after 21 years - is out of the question for film and series professional Auspitz: "The bar is high, we know that, but Rex will jump higher - I'm sure of it!"