TV broadcaster Sky along with Bavaria Film are planning to bring the epic tales of Second World War U-boat crew members to life once more with a new television series expected to launch in 2018.

The original 1981 war film directed by Wolfgang Petersen was an adaptation of a German novel by the same name – Das Boot, meaning the boat – and told the story of a fictional U-96 team through battle and during the tedium of submarine life.

The central theme of Das Boot “has today unfortunately not lost its relevance in this time of terrorism: blind fanaticism that drives young men into senseless war,” said an announcement of the new series.

The original film’s cost of 32 million Deutsche Mark (roughly €16.3 million) made it among the most expensive in German cinematic history.

But it is also one of the most highly acclaimed German films to date and was nominated for six Academy Awards. Das Boot currently holds a rating of 98 percent “certified fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes and a rating of 86 percent on Metacritic.

After 1981, the film was cut into various TV miniseries versions for the UK, Germany and Austria.

The plot of the new series is supposed to pick up where the last film left off and will follow the novel by Lothar-Günther Buchheim.

It will be broadcast by Sky over the course of eight one-hour episodes and has a budget of €25 million.

The cast of the series have not yet been named.

“Das Boot is the leading light of the German film brand,” said Bavaria Film boss Christian Franckenstein.

“We have very much respect for this cinematic masterpiece.”