‘Story of the Lost Child’: shooting starts on Season 4 of “My Brilliant Friend”

While Season 1 of “My Brilliant Friend” is being repeated on RAI3, shooting has begun on Story of the Lost Child, final chapter of the television adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s “Neapolitan Quartet”.

My Brilliant Friend’ – the story

My Brilliant Friend is the story of the long friendship between Elena "Lenù" Greco and Raffaella "Lila" Cerullo, which begins as children in the working-class Rione Luzzatti area of Naples and continues as they grow up and take separate paths, the link between them never breaking completely. The story, which begins in the Fifties, reflects the great changes taking place in Italy and in the status of women in society.

An international coproduction from RAI and HBO, the story and screenplay are by Elena Ferrante, Francesco Piccolo, Laura Paolucci and Saverio Costanzo, while this season is directed by Laura Bispuri, who follows Saverio Costanzo (Seasons 1 & 2), Alice Rohrwacher (Season 2), Daniele Luchetti (Season 3).

Executive producers are Saverio Costanzo, Paolo Sorrentino, Jennifer Schuur, Elena Recchia and Guido De Laurentiis. International distribution by Fremantle in association with RAI Com. The series has been exported to 170 countries thus far.

Cast of ‘My Brilliant Friend’: Irene Maiorino and Alba Rohrwacher are the new Lila and Lenù

The series follows two women through 50 years of Italian history, making it inevitable that the main characters and cast would have to change appearance from childhood into middle age.

Lila and Lenù as children were played by Ludovica Nasti and Elena Del Genio, and as older girls by Gaia Girace and Margherita Mazzucco.

This final chapter sees a completely new cast: Lila and Lenù will be played by Irene Maiorino (37 years old) and Alba Rohrwacher (44 years old), the latter having provided the narrating voice from Season one and whose presence was announced in Season 3. Season 4 will also feature an exceptional addition, Fabrizio Gifuni as Nino Sarratore (played in Season 2 and 3 by Francesco Serpico).

Locations of ‘My Brilliant Friend’

The main set for the earlier seasons of My Brilliant Friend was a 1950s reconstruction of rione Luzzatti, a neighbourhood of Naples in Poggioreale, which was built on a 20,000 sqm lot outside Caserta, at the former Saint-Gobain factory in Marcianise: here the two girls live with their families, friends and acquaintances. Recurring locations include some of Naples’ most iconic locations, the historical centre, Posillipo, Ischia and beaches near Gaeta. (summary and locations of My Brilliant Friend).

As they grow, the two women take different paths: Lila stays attached to her place of origin, while Elena goes on to study at the Università Normale in Pisa and begins to write, moving from Milan to Turin and later to Florence, a city that plays an important role in Season 3. (summary and locations of Those who leave and those who stay).

Setting and location of ‘Story of the Lost Child’

Story of the Lost Child, which closes the Neapolitan Quartet, takes place in a time frame that extends from the 1980s to the 2010s. Naples is still the primary setting, featuring via Petrarca, the hill of Posillipo, and recurring locations in the historical centre such as piazza del Plebiscito, piazza Mercato, lungomare Francesco Caracciolo, piazza Dante, largo San Marcellino, in the heart of the Decumani where the University Federico II is located.