My Brilliant Friend S1-3

The Italian HBO drama series My Brilliant Friend returns for a third season, based on Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, the third book in author Elena Ferrante’s best-selling Neapolitan Novels series, which follows the coming-of-age story of two young women growing up on the outskirts of Naples during the latter half of the 20th century.

Season 3 brings us eight beautifully shot and exquisitely told new episodes, picking up with Lila (Gaia Girace) raising her young son alone and working in a factory under the toughest of conditions, while Elena (Margherita Mazzucco) has authored a successful novel. As they each navigate life’s hopes and uncertainties, Elena and Lila remain united by their ambivalent yet undeniable bond.

The series has been nominated for a Peabody Award, a Critics Choice Award and three awards at the Italian Golden Globes, where it won Best Breakthrough Actress for Ludovica Nasti. Season 3 has a 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Washington Post saying, “My Brilliant Friend is a series of rare sweep and extraordinary accomplishment,” and AV Club praising it as “one of the most honest, unsentimental depictions of friendship—female or otherwise—in either literature or television.”

The fourth and final season, based on the final novel in Ferrante’s series, The Story of the Lost Child, was recently greenlit.

Seasons 1-2 are also on Showmax to binge-watch