HBO Max and Studiocanal are among the buyers of Gomorrah – The Origins, the Italian prequel series to the hit gangster drama, as announced by distributor Beta Films. The series recently debuted on Sky Italia and is set to launch on Sky in the UK.
Beta Films has sold HBO Max rights in German-speaking Europe and Turkey, while Studiocanal has acquired it for France, where it is expected to air on Canal+. Other buyers include SBS (Australia), ORF (Austria), TET (Latvia) and Nova (Greece). The HBO Max Germany deal also includes rights to the original Gomorrah series and the feature film The Immortal, which will be available across HBO Max's footprint in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
Set in Naples in 1977, Gomorrah – The Origins follows young Pietro, a tough city kid who, along with his friends, survives through petty theft and low-level crime. He aspires to become like the neighbourhood 'king', Angela 'A' Sirena, and soon finds himself in a power game far beyond his control. Pietro later becomes Don Pietro Savastano, the godfather of the Camorra.
The series comes from Sky Studios and Cattleya, part of ITV Studios. Marco D'Amore, who starred in the original series, directed the first four episodes and served as co-writer and artistic supervisor. Francesco Ghiaccio directed the final two episodes. The series is created by Leonardo Fasoli, Maddalena Ravagli and Roberto Saviano, who wrote the book on which the original series was based. Riccardo Tozzi is the executive producer for Cattleya and Nils Hartmann for Sky Studios.
Based on the bestseller Gomorra, the original series ran for five seasons and was sold to more than 150 territories worldwide. The feature film The Immortal, which served as a narrative bridge between seasons four and five, premiered in 2019.
