Spanish broadcaster RTVE will continue airing the acclaimed Italian drama series La amiga estupenda on La 1 during prime time on Saturday, September 5.
The public network confirmed on Tuesday that new episodes will begin at 22:00. If the channel maintains its pattern of showing three consecutive episodes, it will finish the eight-part first season based on the novels by Elena Ferrante and begin the second season.
The decision resolves lingering questions about the series after it moved to La 1 prime time last Saturday. Industry observers had wondered whether RTVE would keep the show on its main channel or return it to its original broadcast time on Sundays on La 2.
RTVE is Spain's state-owned public television entity, operating flagship channel La 1 and cultural network La 2. La amiga estupenda, known internationally as My Brilliant Friend, is a high-profile Italian language adaptation produced for television.
Ratings performance across channels
The show built on its previous viewership during its first Saturday prime-time run on La 1. Its three broadcast episodes averaged an 8.83 percent audience share, recording individual episode shares of 8.3 percent, 7.9 percent, and 10.3 percent.
Despite the audience growth, the series did not win the Saturday night ratings competition. Antena 3 captured the top spot in the same time slot with its game show Atrapa un millon, which achieved a viewer share above 9 percent.
Before switching channels, the drama delivered historic figures on La 2. Its initial three-episode premiere became the most successful fiction launch on La 2 in 20 years, drawing 1,983,000 total unique viewers, an average audience of 488,000 viewers, and a 6.2 percent share.
Adapting Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels
La amiga estupenda is based on the celebrated Neapolitan novels written by Italian author Elena Ferrante. The television series spans 32 episodes divided into four seasons of eight episodes each, matching the four books in the literary tetralogy.
The narrative structure adapts Ferrante's work symmetrically. It opens with the self-titled first volume, moves through Un mal nombre and Las deudas del cuerpo, and concludes with the final book, La nina perdida.
The storyline begins in the present day when an elderly Elena Greco learns that her lifelong friend Lila has disappeared without a trace. Prompted by the disappearance, Elena begins writing the story of their shared life, triggering an extended flashback to 1950s Naples.
The plot follows their complex bond over six decades as it shifts between unconditional devotion and fierce rivalry. As they grow up in a working-class Neapolitan neighborhood, their paths diverge sharply while they search for their own identities.
Elena pursues academic achievement through school and university to build her future. Lila remains in the neighborhood and copes with a restrictive marriage, with both women bound together by jealousy, loyalty, and deep mutual dependence.
Generational cast changes
To portray the characters across different stages of life, the production employed generational cast shifts. Child actors Elisa Del Genio and Ludovica Nasti portrayed Elena and Lila during childhood, before handing the roles to Margherita Mazzucco and Gaia Girace for their teenage and early adult years.
In the fourth and final season, actors Alba Rohrwacher and Irene Maiorino took over the lead roles. The principal cast is supported by actors including Eduardo Scarpetta, Luca Gallone, and Antonio Milo, who portray the wider community surrounding the two women in Naples.
