Development and casting Production company
Lux Vide announced the series on 26 May 2022 and selected
Can Yaman to play the titular character and
Luca Argentero as Yanez. The miniseries was the idea of Lux Vide CEO Luca Bernabei, and its distribution arrangement outside of Italy is held with
Fremantle, its parent company. In Spain,
Mediaset España holds the rights instead. Argentero was replaced by
Alessandro Preziosi in the role of Yanez. Auditions for the role of Emilio, a minor character, were first mooted in 2023, when Lux Vide agents phoned
Samuele Segreto when was studying in New York for a year, which he won as a consolation prize on
Amici di Maria De Filippi. Yaman moved to Italy with the goal of taking part in
Sandokan and claims that he had never watched the original series, as Salgari's works are not well-known in Turkey and never met
Kabir Bedi, who played the titular character in the original series. Upon arrival, he studied the character and took five years to prepare for the role, learning how to ride horses, lose weight, reading source work and improving his English and Italian skills. He did not see Kabir Bedi in person until the first night of the
2026 Sanremo Festival, where Yaman was a co-host in its first night. Following the successful broadcast of the first two episodes on 1 December 2025, it was announced that a second season was set to be produced and released by 2027, featuring the same main cast plus additional characters, and would be filmed starting in May 2026. In its development stage (before filming) in early 2026, the producers are trying to find a filming location for
Mompracem, and there is the possibility of Kabir Bedi making a cameo. As of February 2026, it is not likely that the preliminary work will begin in the summer, likely because the producers needed other types of budget. Filming there took place from 27 August to 13 September, with local executive production provided by Tiktak Production. The Formello studios, where the initial scenes were shot, had three ships built on purpose for the series, including a 360-degree LED infrastructure to simulate oceans or weather conditions such as storms. Several cave scenes were shot at underground Roman cisterns in
Albano Laziale. Most of the jungle scenes were recreated in Parco Laghi dei Reali and Chia Falls. It was also used for most of the indoor locations, such as the consulate of Labuan, the prisons and
Singapore. The Calabria Film Commission injected €800,000 into its production, but there are fewer scenes compared to those shot in Sammezzano and in Lazio, according to Domani, a local newspaper. This was seen with criticism from locals, even though the original plans were to "show Calabria to the world". In the summer of 2025, it was anticipated that in the event of a second season the series would be filmed again in Calabria.
Previews A preview was shown on 28 February 2025 during Fremantle Presents, Fremantle's upfront event at the London TV Screenings. On 24 June 2025, the series was presented at the Italian Global Series Festival in
Riccione.
Soundtrack The musical score for the series was assigned to and performed by Italian band
Calibro 35. For the opening theme, the group chose to cover the popular theme from the
1976 series, composed by
Guido and Maurizio De Angelis (aka Oliver Onions), which remained widely associated with Sandokan among Italians. == Release ==