ROME – Netflix has ordered up a second series of mob show “Suburra: Blood on Rome,” its first Italian original co-financed with Italy‘s state broadcaster Rai and produced by ITV-owned shingle Cattleya.
The second series announcement comes shortly after the first 10 episodes of the show launched on the streaming giant last October in more than 190 countries, following a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September.
Set in contemporary Rome, where corruption runs rampant, “Suburra” is considered Italy’s answer to “Narcos” and revolves around the Vatican, the mob, and local politicos vying for control of Ostia, the seaside town just outside the Italian capital that is being developed into a gambling paradise. The first season featured plenty of color-saturated violence, intrigue, and a scene in which a high-ranking priest has a heart attack during a cocaine-fueled orgy.
Netflix said in a statement that the show would be back with “more action, drama and power play.”
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The second season sees Barbara Petronio back in charge as head writer and will feature the same cast as the first, toplining Alessandro Borghi as Ostia mob boss Aureliano. While director Andrea Molaioli is back on board, Michele Placido, who directed the first two episodes of Season 1, is not. Instead, new helmer Piero Messina, a former assistant to Paolo Sorrentino, has been recruited. Messina’s first feature, Sicily-set “The Wait,” starring Juliette Binoche, made the cut for the 2015 Venice competition.
Details of when production on the second season of “Suburra” will kick off are being kept under wraps.
Netflix has another Italian original series in the works titled “Baby,” about teen prostitution in present-day Rome. It is produced by Rome-based Fabula Pictures.
