“Gomorrah,” the gritty Neapolitan mafia series that became Italy’s biggest TV export, is back – albeit in a different time frame.
Filming for “Gomorrah – The Series” will begin in Naples in early 2025. The Origins,” the previously announced origin story of the hit crime drama that will be directed by Marco D’Amore, the actor who played the show’s ruthless protagonist Ciro Di Marzio.
D’Amore, who previously directed several episodes of the series as well as a prequel feature film to “Gomorrah” titled “The Immortal” – and then further honed his skills behind the camera directing films from Naples, “Napoli Magica ” and “Caracas” – officially announced on Tuesday that he will lead and direct this new project in a video on which Variety has been given exclusive access.
“Today I’m here to tell you that we will finally explore the origins of the saga,” D’Amore says in the video, which can be viewed above. He underlines that, like the hyper-realistic original, this six-episode “Gomorrah” prequel will be firmly “rooted in reality.”
The origin story of Gomorrah will chronicle the rise of gangster Pietro Savastano in the 1970s, when the Neapolitan criminal underworld was ubiquitous but less cutthroat – more tied to the sale of smuggled cigarettes than large quantities of drugs – as the show’s lead producer, Riccardo Tozzi, series chef. from Cattleya, owned by ITV, previously revealed.
“’Gomorrah – The Series’ has now taken on a mythological profile,” Tozzi said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that they had “many doubts about touching on this inimitable subject again.”
“But the idea that emerged within the creative group at the origin of the series, together with one of the protagonists, Marco, seemed so simple and strong that it convinced us to start again,” Tozzi added.
“In the Naples of yesteryear, young Pietro does not know that he will become Savastano, nor Imma, nor the group of unconscious and spirited young people who accompany the beginning of his criminal adventure,” Tozzi continued. .
Nils Hartmann, EVP Sky Studios Italy: “I am very happy that a talent I admire as both an actor and director is returning to be part of the Gomorrah family – after starring in a leading role.”
Hartmann added: “We have shared this adventure with Marco from the beginning, and I am sure that his vision will bring valuable energy to a new and unprecedented chapter of the saga. Telling the story of Pietro Savastano’s adolescence in the prequel will be an exciting and highly ambitious challenge. All of this makes me proud, and I can’t wait to see the first blockbuster pop.”
Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, who were among the writers of the original “Gomorrah” saga, worked on the script along with D’Amore, who also serves as artistic supervisor, and Roberto Saviano, who wrote the bestseller Neapolitan Mafia. exposé on which the series is based.
Some episodes of the series will be directed by D’Amore’s frequent collaborator Francesco Ghiaccio.
The casting of the prequel has not yet been announced, but it is expected to feature young, emerging local talents, some of whom may be non-professionals.
Launched on Sky in 2014, ‘Gomorrah’ brought audiences into the belly of the real Neapolitan criminal underworld, partly because it was shot almost entirely in the actual places it depicts. In addition to reaching megahit status in Italy, ‘Gomorrah’ has traveled to 190 countries, including on HBO Max in the US.
Just like the original, “Gomorrah – The Series. The Origins” is produced by Sky Studios and Cattleya, part of ITV Studios, and will be sold internationally by Beta Film.