The two, who have impressive TV pedigrees with Visnjic finding fame in ER and Extant and Mitchell in Lost, join Donald Sutherland as series leads and will fill the void left by original cast member William Fichtner.

Crossing Lines taps into the charter of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to mandate a special crime unit, creating an organisation functioning as a European FBI, to investigate serialised crimes that cross over European borders and to hunt down criminals and bring them to justice.

The acclaimed show returns for an explosive season three, beginning six months after the heart-stopping conclusion of season two, in which the cross-border unit's leader, Louis Daniel, was killed. After one of his top prosecutors vanishes, Dorn (Sutherland) must reactivate the ICC team. Marco Constante (Visnjic), Carine Strand (Mitchell), Luke Wilkinson (Stuart Martin) and Ellie Delfont-Bogard (Naomi Battrick) are new ICC team members joining Sebastian Berger (Tom Wlaschiha) and Arabela Seeger (Lara Rossi).

The third season of the series promises to be its most ambitious yet, with an emphasis on contemporary cross-border crime, gut-wrenching character drama and a reunited team of underdogs struggling to re-establish their battered identity.

In this new season, the unit confronts humanity on its worst days and its worst behaviour, facing murder, corruption, vigilante justice, the risk of a blood-borne epidemic and even a radioactive catastrophe at the very heart of Europe. The team must work together, solving crimes while keeping their own private desires and demons under control.

Visnjic talks about his role as Italian inspector and kidnapping expert, Marco Constante: “Viewers will see why Constante chose to enter the police academy and what led him to become a specialised expert in kidnapping and how his background played a vital role in his chosen career path. It’s a wonderful role – there’s plenty of physical action as well as the emotional and personal investment brought not only by myself but also the individual characters in Crossing Lines. There are also the location shoots around Europe including Prague and my home country of Croatia.”

The series also ushers in a new, creative team under Golden Globe® Award-winning, Emmy®-nominated writer and producer, Frank Spotnitz, who together with Emmy® Award-winning and Golden Globe® nominated Rola Bauer, are the series executive producers.

“We're moving into a new era with Crossing Lines and are elated to have Goran and Elizabeth whose talents will bring freshness to the new season's storylines,” says Bauer.

He continues: “I think one of the reasons the show has been so popular is the DNA in the project. As the title says it is ‘crossing lines’. We’re living in a global world. We’re connected by the Internet. We are trying to have certain things that are common to each other through television. Hollywood has been an example of it in that films transcend the boundaries and are released everywhere. I think what attracts viewers to Crossing Lines is that these crimes can happen anywhere in the world and this is a team that is proactive.”

Crossing Lines premiered at the Opening Ceremonies of the 53rd edition of the Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo, marking it the first time the festival opened with a television series.

The third season of Crossing Lines premieres on Sony, channel 127 on DStv at 20:55 on Tuesday, 15 September.