Sky has released the trailer for Gomorrah – The Series. The Origins, the long-awaited prequel to Italy’s biggest TV export, the gritty Neapolitan gangster series Gomorrah.
The Comcast-owned pay TV service has not yet set a release date for the six-part limited series in Italy, as previously announced, but it is set for January. Set in the 1970s, “Gomorrah” follows the rise of gangster Pietro Savastano, the head of the drug-trafficking family that bears his name. In the first part, Sabastano will be played by Luca Lubrano, a 16-year-old from Naples.
The show will be rolled out to the other five European counties where Sky operates, including the UK and Germany, in early 2026.
As the trailer shows, the origin story begins in 1977 with a very young Savastano, adopted into a poor family in the Naples slum of Secondigliano. According to the synopsis provided, he is a struggling street kid who dreams of economic advancement, but along with his siblings and lifelong friends, he loses his innocence and experiences his first great love, “crazy and passionate like all teenagers.” Secandigliano’s encounter with mob boss Angelo, known as “Sirena”, leads him into the world of crime. “Amidst violence, alliances, and betrayal, Pietro discovers the costs of this life at his own expense,” the synopsis reads.
The prequel series is directed by Marco D’Amore, who played the ruthless central character Ciro di Marzio in the original series Gomorrah.
At a recent press presentation, the show’s lead producer Riccardo Tozzi said D’Amore took inspiration for the tone of Gomorrah from Sergio Leone’s epic Once Upon a Time in America, about two childhood friends from New York’s Lower East Side who become powerful gangsters in the 1920s.
“It’s ‘Gomorrah’ because it features the main characters from the show, but it’s also something different,” Tozzi said. “This is a different story, a different world.” Unlike the very realistic modern-day Naples portrayed in “Gomorrah,” which took audiences into the belly of the real Neapolitan criminal underworld, the producer added that the origin show of “Gomorrah” depicts “a very beautiful Napoli, almost like a fantasy.”
Like the original, ‘Gomorrah – The Series. The Origins’ will be produced by Sky Studios and Cattleya, part of ITV Studios, and distributed internationally by Beta Film.
“Gomorrah” aired for five seasons from 2014 to 2021. The gritty show traveled to 190 countries, including the United States, where it aired on HBO Max.
