Gomorrah: The Origins

There’s a scene in the first episode of Gomorrah: The Origins where ambitious mafioso Angelo (Francesco Pellegrino) arrives at the home of someone who stole millions from his criminal operation. As thunder crashes outside and a baby is heard crying in another room, viewers know that something horrible is about to happen. The sequence is a masterclass in atmosphere and tension that puts the full force of Pellegrino’s charismatic and menacing performance on display. While there are similar strokes of brilliance scattered throughout this prequel series to the hit Italian crime show, the exhilarating drama peters out during its latter half as the script turns its attention to laying the foundation for the next season. The result is a frequently phenomenal thriller that’s frustratingly undercut by a disjointed plot.

Set in Secondigliano in 1977, the series centres around a teenage Pietro (Luca Lubrano) decades before he became the boss of the powerful Savastano family. He runs small jobs stealing car tyres and cigarettes with a group of close friends from the same deprived neighbourhood and has nothing but admiration for Angelo. When Pietro finds himself pulled deeper into Naples’ criminal underbelly, he seizes the opportunity to build the life he’s always dreamed of.

The performances are the show’s greatest strength. While Pellegrino brings a quiet intensity to the screen that fuels much of the show’s atmosphere, Lubrano does an excellent job of conveying Pietro’s loss of innocence as he undergoes his criminal coming-of-age. Other notable standouts include Antonio Incalza as Pietro’s scene-stealing friend Fucariello, Tullia Venezia, who plays the young version of Imma, and a frightening Ciro Capano as the patriarch of the Villa family that Angelo works for.

As compelling as this show gets, the urgency and intrigue that drove the initial episodes forward loses its momentum as the show shifts its focus to a fanatical prisoner played by Flavio Furno, who appears briefly at the end of each episode. Although Furno gives a ferocious turn, the character’s inclusion is barely relevant to Pietro’s story.

Gomorrah: The Origins transports audiences to a gritty depiction of 1970s Naples in a show that will leave viewers stunned on multiple occasions. For everything this prequel does right, it’s disappointing that the later episodes are more concerned with setting up future instalments than delivering the tightly written drama that made the first half work so well.

Andrew Murray

Gomorrah: The Origins is released on Sky on 28^th July 2026.

Watch the trailer for Gomorrah: The Origins here: