My Brilliant Friend season 2: Everything you need to know
Elena Ferrante is having another moment.
The Italian novelist, whose identity remains a mystery, despite one journalist's concerted efforts to unmask her, has enjoyed great success and critical acclaim with The Neapolitan Novels, a four-part, coming-of-age book series about Elena 'Lenù' Greco and Raffaella 'Lila' Cerullo, two girls living in an impoverished neighbourhood on the edge of Naples, Italy in the 1950s.
After selling over 10 million copies in 40 different countries, the series has been adapted into an Italian-language TV drama for HBO (for those of us in the UK, Sky Atlantic and NowTV are your go-to), and just like the original source material, it has flourished – so much so that a second series has officially been confirmed.
We are excited to announce that HBO and RAI have renewed #MyBrilliantFriend for a second season!
- My Brilliant Friend (@BrilliantFriend) December 4, 2018
"We’re thrilled that Elena Ferrante’s epic story has resonated so powerfully with viewers and critics, and we look forward to the continuing journey of Elena and Lila," HBO programming president Casey Bloys said in a statement.
Fabrizio Salini, CEO of international television service RAI, also said that the company "is deeply proud of the extraordinary success of My Brilliant Friend".
He added: "It’s an important milestone that confirms our commitment to focusing on international co-production, as well as on the value of Italian talent."
So, what can we expect from the second chapter of the show that everyone's been talking about? Here's everything we know so far.
My Brilliant Friend season 2 air date: When can we expect it?
Before you get too excited, there’s quite a wait.
The drama’s official premiere date hasn’t yet been announced, but if the team behind it sticks to the schedule that the first season followed, we'd expect it to air at some point in late 2019.
So like we said, it's not on its way anytime soon.
My Brilliant Friend season 2 book: What will happen?
The second book of the series, The Story of a New Name, will continue from where we left off, once again placing strained, complex relationships front and centre, as well as focusing on the stringent and limiting expectations that society forced upon women in 1950s Italy.
After meeting Lila and Lenù as children and teenagers, we will get to see them as young adult women in their early 20s who both, yet again, lead anything but straightforward, easy lives.
The series will focus on the period after Lila has married Stefano, with Lila attempting to adjust to married life and her new responsibilities, including working in the local neighbourhood shoe shop – a far cry from what she had hoped her life would be. We also find out that her husband is as ghastly as so many of the other men in their cruel and unforgiving world are.
In contrast, Lenù's focus lies firmly on education and, after performing very well in school, she attends a free university in Pisa. But like Lila, she also finds herself struggling to cope with her new surroundings, which throw up fresh challenges of their own. It’s in this book that Lenù also writes a short story based on her life, which is snapped up by a publishing house.
But before you worry that the two women will remain mostly separate throughout the new series, they go on holiday together before Lenù heads off to university, Lila convincing her best friend to go with her so that she's not trapped alone with her mother and sister-in-law. But further complications arise involving a boy called Nino, which adds further strain to their friendship.
If you want to find out more about what the second series will involve, you can find an in depth review of the book here from The Independent.
And with two further books in the collection – Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay and The Story of the Lost Child – we would expect another two seasons to follow.
My Brilliant Friend season 2 cast: Who’s in it?
In the first season, the two central characters, Lenù and Lila, were played by two different sets of actors. Elisa Del Genio and Ludovica Nasti appeared in the first two episodes of the season as the young Lenù and Lila, and Margherita Mazzucco and Gaia Girace appeared in the remaining six episodes.
It’s unclear whether Mazzucco and Girace will return for the second chapter, or if the roles will be recast – and expect to see a host of new faces too, such as new love interest Nino.
My Brilliant Friend season 2 trailer: When can we see it?
It has only just been announced that the show will be returning, so sadly you shouldn't expect a trailer to land anytime soon.
But we would expect a lot more of the same.
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