M. Son of the Century (TV series)

M. Son of the Century (M. Il figlio del secolo) is an upcoming historical drama television series directed by Joe Wright, based on the novel of the same name by Antonio Scurati. The series centers on the early political career of Benito Mussolini in the 1920s. It will premiere on Sky Atlantic in late 2024.

Premise
The series follows Benito Mussolini's career from his founding of the Fasci Italiani in 1919 through the assassination of socialist politician Giacomo Matteotti in 1925.

Cast

 * Luca Marinelli as Benito Mussolini
 * Francesco Russo as Cesare Rossi
 * Barbara Chichiarelli as Margherita Sarfatti
 * Benedetta Cimatti as Donna Rachele
 * Federico Majorana as Amerigo Dumini
 * Gaetano Bruno as Giacomo Matteotti
 * Fulvio Falzarano as Giovanni Giolitti
 * Massimo De Lorenzo as Alfredo Rocco
 * Lorenzo Zurzolo as Italo Balbo
 * Vincenzo Nemolato as Victor Emmanuel III
 * Gianmarco Vettori as Dino Grandi
 * Gabriele Falsetta as Roberto Farinacci
 * Maurizio Lombardi as Emilio De Bono
 * Daniele Trombetti as Cesare Forni
 * Gianluca Gobbi as Cesare Maria de Vecchi
 * Alberto Astorri as Luigi Facta
 * Paolo Pierobon as Gabriele D'Annunzio
 * Taiyo Yamanouchi as Harukichi Shimoi
 * Jessica Piccolo Valerani as Ida Dalser
 * Giorgia Sinicorni as Queen Elena
 * Paolo Macedonio as Don Luigi Sturzo
 * Federico Mainardi as Albino Volpi
 * Elena Lietti as Velia Titta
 * Giovanni Alfieri as Amleto Poveromo
 * Amedeo Gullà as Augusto Malacria
 * Michele Ferrantino as Giuseppe Viola
 * Cosima Centurioni as Bianca Ceccato
 * Daniele Paoloni as Rodolfo De Bernardt
 * Claudio Bigagli as Generale

Production
Sky Studios ordered the series in April 2022. At the Rome Film Festival in October 2022, it was announced that Joe Wright would direct the series with Luca Marinelli playing Benito Mussolini. Marinelli was producer Lorenzo Mieli's first choice for the role. Speaking about the series, Marinelli stated: We don't want to celebrate Mussolini at all. He was a criminal. We only want to tell his story and who he was, in our own way, according to Joe [Wright]'s vision. All the adjectives used to describe Mussolini put a distance between us and him. We need to understand that he decided to do what he did, that he followed this path, and that he was always aware of what he was doing.

The series was filmed over a period of six months beginning in November 2022. Filming took place primarily in Rome at Cinecittà Studios. Other filming locations included the Palazzo Reale and the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, as well as Trieste, Aquileia, Gorizia, and Ruda in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

Release
The series was previewed at the Riviera International Film Festival in May 2023.