Prequel series shows the rise of Savastano
Sky has released a trailer for “Gomorrah – The Series. The Origins,” the highly anticipated prequel to the gritty Neapolitan mafia series “Gomorrah,” Italy’s biggest TV export.
Comcast’s pay-TV service has planned an unspecified January release in Italy for the six-part limited series, as previously announced. Set in the 1970s, it follows the rise of gangster Pietro Savastano, who in “Gomorrah” is the head of the drug trafficking clan that bears his name. Savastano is played in the prequel by 16-year-old Luca Lubrano, born in Naples.
The show will be rolled out in early 2026 in the five other European countries where Sky operates, including the UK and Germany.
As the trailer shows, the origin story begins in 1977 with a very young Savastano, who grows up as an adopted child in a poverty-stricken family in the Secondigliano slum in Naples. He is a street kid who dreams of raising his economic status just as he, along with his brothers and lifelong friends, loses his innocence and experiences a first great love “which, like for any teenager, will be crazy and passionate,” according to the synopsis provided. His meeting with Angelo, known as ‘A Sirena’, the Secondigliano mafia boss, then marks his entry into the world of crime. “Amid violence, alliances and betrayal, Pietro discovers at his own expense the price this life brings,” the synopsis reads.
The prequel series is directed by Marco D’Amore, who played the ruthless protagonist Ciro Di Marzio in the original series ‘Gomorrah’.
At a recent press launch, the show’s lead producer Riccardo Tozzi said D’Amore drew inspiration for the tone of “Gomorrah – The Origins” from Sergio Leone’s epic “Once Upon a Time in America,” about two childhood friends from New York’s Lower East Side who became powerful gangsters in the 1920s.
“It’s ‘Gomorrah’ because we have the main characters of the show, but it’s also something else,” Tozzi said. “It’s a different story, a different world.” Unlike the hyper-realistic contemporary Naples depicted in “Gomorrah,” which brought audiences into the belly of the real Neapolitan criminal underworld, the origins show “Gomorrah” portrays “a very beautiful Naples that is almost a fantasy,” the producer added.
Like the original, “Gomorrah – The Series. The Origins” is produced by Sky Studios and Cattleya, part of ITV Studios, and sold internationally by Beta Film.
‘Gomorrah’ ran for five seasons between 2014 and 2021. The gritty show traveled to 190 countries, including the US, where it played on HBO Max.
