The Leopard Season 1 release date, cast, storyline, trailer release, and everything you need to know
Netflix’s latest ambitious international project is an adaptation of the classic Italian novel The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. This sweeping historical drama series promises to bring the sensual and visually stunning saga of 19th century Sicily to life like never before on the small screen.
The Risorgimento, the decades-long struggle for Italian unification in the 1800s, serves as the backdrop for The Leopard. At its core is the story of the aristocratic Salina family caught up in this tumultuous period of social upheaval and changing power dynamics. With lavish production values, stunning Sicilian locations, and a talented international cast, expectations are high for this to be a prestige drama hit on par with shows like Downton Abbey and The Crown.
The Leopard Season 1 Release Date:
We can likely expect The Leopard Season 1 to hit Netflix in mid-to-late 2024, despite the lack of an exact release date. Filming began in April 2023 in various Sicilian cities, including Palermo, Catania, and Syracuse. The ambitious period piece will require significant time to complete post-production and visual effects due to an extended production schedule that extends into September 2023.
Netflix seems to be giving The Leopard ample time and care to ensure that it lives up to its blockbuster potential as one of the streamer’s biggest international investments yet. An extended promotional campaign is also likely to build hype for this literary adaptation among global audiences.
The Leopard Series Storyline Overview:
The Leopard takes place in 1860s Sicily during the Risorgimento movement to unify Italy under one nation and overthrow the feudal monarchy system. Don Fabrizio Corbera, the aging Prince of Salina, stands at the center, witnessing the erosion of his aristocratic family’s power and way of life due to the social changes sweeping across the island and country.
Even as revolutionaries fight to dismantle the old order, Don Fabrizio’s worldly and adaptable nephew Tancredi shockingly joins their cause. This creates a conflict between the old, represented by Don Fabrizio, and the ascendant new generation, like Tancredi, who embrace progressive values. The cunning ambitions of nouveau riche families like the Sedàras, who seek to leverage their wealth into nobility through marriages like Don Fabrizio’s daughter Concetta and vulgar social climber Angelica, complicate matters.
At its core, The Leopard is an exploration of the clash between tradition and modernity, the death of an old ruling class, and the painful birth of a new societal order—one that Don Fabrizio shrewdly seems to accept must come, even as he clings to the world he knows. It’s an epically scaled historical family drama that promises to be steeped in intrigue, romance, and a sensuous portrait of a pivotal time.
The Leopard Season 1 Expected Storyline:
While Season 1 will likely adapt a good chunk of Lampedusa’s classic novel, there is so much rich source material that it may take multiple seasons to fully portray the nuanced perspectives and events surrounding Sicily’s transformation during the Risorgimento era.
We can expect Season 1 to establish the central dynamics, including Don Fabrizio’s resistance to the changing political tides, Tancredi’s defection to the nobility’s opposition, and the disruptive arrival of figures like Angelica Sedàra, who aspires to gentrify her family through marriage into the aristocracy. With her beauty and cunning, Angelica will no doubt become a catalyst who accelerates the decline of the old ruling class.
The season will explore the physical conflict and battles as the aristocracy and their wealthy business-focused challengers vie for supremacy. But more crucially, we’ll see the internal ideological wars waged through characters like Don Fabrizio and Tancredi having vastly different philosophies. Season 1 should lay the groundwork for this seminal inter-generational feud over tradition versus progress within the House of Salina itself.
All signs point to The Leopard being a lush, soapy, and sweeping historical drama aimed at quality on par with the best from HBO and premium cablers. With the rich source material to draw from, this could be just the start of a multi-season saga for Netflix.
The Leopard Series List of Cast Members:
- Kim Rossi Stuart as Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina
- Deva Cassel as Angelica Sedàra
- Saul Nanni as Tancredi Falconeri
- Benedetta Porcaroli as Concetta
- Paolo Calabresi
- Francesco Colella
- Corrado Invernizzi as Chevalley
- Astrid Meloni
- Greta Esposito
The Leopard Season 1 List of Episodes:
The Leopard Season 1 has not yet released episode titles or plot synopses. This is a 6-episode limited series, so we can expect each installment to be around 1 hour in length.
- Episode No. 1: TBA
- Episode No. 2: TBA
- Episode No. 3: TBA
- Episode No. 4: TBA
- Episode No. 5: TBA
- Episode No. 6: TBA
The Leopard Series Creators Team:
The Leopard is showrun and written by Richard Warlow, who previously collaborated with lead director Tom Shankland on the Netflix true crime series The Serpent. Warlow created the series and is an executive producer. Benji Walters is a writer who joins him.
Shankland, whose other credits include episodes of Ripper Street and We Crashed, is directing the first three episodes of The Leopard, as well as the sixth and final installment. Italian directors Giuseppe Capotondi and Laura Luchetti are helming the 4th and 5th episodes, respectively.
Behind the camera, the key crew includes director of photography Nicolaj Bruel, costume designers Carlo Poggioli and Edoardo Russo, and composer Paolo Buonvino, who scores the series.
On the production side, The Leopard is a collaboration between Italian production company Indiana Production and British Moonage Pictures, which produces shows like Peaky Blinders and Netflix’s recent Obsession. Producers Fabrizio Donvito, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli, Marco Cohen, and Benedetto Habib oversee Indiana. Moonage’s producers are Will Gould, Frith Tiplady, and Matthew Read.
Where to Watch The Leopard Season 1?
Netflix will be the exclusive home for streaming The Leopard Season 1 when it premieres in 2024 as an original series. The show is part of the streamer’s ramped-up investment in prestigious international and European content.
Given its grand scale and literary pedigree, The Leopard seems primed to be a global offering on Netflix in most of its territories around the world. It has the potential to be a breakout crossover hit in the vein of series like Lupin, Squid Game, and Money Heist that travel well.
As one of Netflix’s most ambitious Italian productions yet, it should have a prominent featured spot on the service across its subscription tiers. It skews towards the older, more sophisticated end of the Netflix audience, but could find widespread appeal thanks to its visual opulence and soapy dramatic storytelling.
The Leopard Season 1 Trailer Release Date:
As of now, Netflix has not released a full trailer for The Leopard Season 1. With production still ongoing until September 2023, a trailer release is likely several months away at the earliest.
The first official footage we got was a very brief behind-the-scenes production teaser from April 2023, celebrating the start of filming in Italy. This 20-second sizzle reel gave the smallest glimpses of the series’ lavish costumes and ornate set pieces.
A full trailer for The Leopard Season 1 will probably not arrive until late 2023 or even early 2024, as Netflix ramps up marketing closer to the actual release date. Fans can expect multiple trailers spotlighting the sweeping visuals, romantic plotlines, and all-star cast led by Kim Rossi Stuart and Deva Cassel.
The Leopard Season 1 Final Words:
From the passionate creative talents involved both in front of and behind the camera to Netflix’s clear ambitions in mounting such a lavish and faithful production, The Leopard has all the makings of an epic and prestigious drama series on the streamer in 2024.
By bringing the classic Sicilian novel of generational class conflicts and societal upheaval to vivid life, The Leopard seems poised to be a crossover hit that resonates with international audiences while still feeling authentic to its Italian literary roots. With its combination of soapy family melodrama, lush period backdrops, and cerebral historical themes, the series has an intriguing mixture of prestige depth and crowd-pleasing appeal.
While some may be wary of Netflix taking on such ambitious and rarified source material, the initial footage and behind-the-scenes details suggest The Leopard is coming together as the kind of sweeping, transportive viewing experience that streaming was made for. Cinephiles and casual viewers alike may find themselves swept up in this epic Sicilian tale when The Leopard finally prowls onto Netflix in 2024.
