HBO‘s fourth and final season of My Brilliant Friend continues the story of two childhood friends as they grow from the ups and downs of life.

The Italian series, based on the book by Elena Ferrante, follows Elena (Alba Rohrwacher) and Lila (Irene Maiorino), two friends who grew up together and were inseparable until life took its toll. The fourth season shows the two friends going through relationships, marriage woes, career drama and other winding paths that bring them back to their hometown and to each other.

Blavity’s Shadow and Act spoke with the two stars of the series Maiorino and Rohrwacher, as well as writer/executive producer Saverio Costanzo and director Laura Bispuri. The cast and crew all talked about the importance and dangers of friendship, how friendship has influenced their personal lives, and of course, what viewers can look forward to this season.

Here’s why My Brilliant Friend is different in Season 4

Maiorino said that this season is “very different” from previous seasons because both women are now going through motherhood.

“Maybe the audience will be touched a lot [by] this scene because it’s a very emotional moment in which you can see the two characters come back to their childhood in some way. You can see at the same time two women in [their] power [and are] beautiful [and] happy in some way. Then you can also see the children [they were]. This season is the season of changing energy.”

Rohrwacher also said how the friendship between Elena and Lila changes and grows. But she described it more of the characters provoking each other to change.

“I can’t imagine Elena without Lila and I can’t imagine Lila without Elena. It’s the driving force of Elena, it’s the provocation, it’s the mystery that Elena is following, and sometimes I imagine [Lila] as a ghost, as a projection of Elena, who gave to Elena the strength to emancipate herself from the reality she was born in. But when I was acting Elena, I started to ask myself if maybe Elena is the driving force of Lila, that goads and provokes Lila? Because Elena is [also] a mystery that Lila is following.”

Rohrwacher also said how her relationship to Elena has altered over the course of the seasons, especially now that she gets to play her on camera after serving as the voiceover for adult Elena for so long.

“To be the voice actor of a character gave me a very special knowledge of this character, a very intimate knowledge,” she said. “And also because I was there very often when they were filmed the first season, especially Season One and Season Two, I had the possibility to have a real relationship with the actors, especially with Margarita Mazzucco [who played young Elena]. And so I saw her becoming an actress and we shared so many moments together that when I finally arrive at the point that I have to be [Elena], it felt natural, like the most natural thing, but also arriving at that point where my face and my voice united was like arriving on a dry land. Finally, I’m here. It was also a sense of relief to be able to take this kind of ghost, I mean, the voice [and] ego of Elena and put this ghost into a body.”

Series described as a “Greek tragedy” and a love story

Costanzo described the series as a Greek tragedy in which the characters arrive back at their original starting point, even though they had worked so hard to leave their home.

“The last part of the four books means adulthood, so they will deal with two women grown up, dealing with motherhood and…ambition, how hard it is not just to start becoming a professional in writing, for example, for Elena, but also how hard it is to maintain this status. And then they will deal with something like in the Greek tragedy–that perhaps, everybody’s life at the end, after some point, you go back to the origin [of your life]. They’re going to see [that] the end [of the season] looks very much like the first season. They’re going to see a kind of return to the same place [the characters began in].

He also described their friendship in terms of danger. In fact, he said that friendship might be the most dangerous relationship a person can have because unlike other relationships that have familial or transactional ties, it is a relationship that essentially doesn’t demand commitment. Instead, it depends on two people to be vulnerable and honest for the relationship to work and grow commitment to each other.

“I think that friendship is one of the most dangerous relationships a human being can have because there is no blood involved, it’s not a family. It’s not a marriage, it’s not a couple. Friendship is something you really want, you know? You don’t need it. It doesn’t complete yourself. So it’s something you have to really want,” he said. “It’s not a status–family is a status, marriage is a status. So that makes this kind of relationship very dangerous because you have to work a lot on a friendship to make it working [and that] is one of the hardest things. That’s why [many] people are alone, because it’s very hard. What we have here, and what makes My Brilliant Friend unique and special, is that in my opinion, the most romantic and moving relationship is friendship. This is what My Brilliant Friend is, a love story.”

The true meaning of Elena and Lila’s friendship in My Brilliant Friend

Bispuri also added how Elena and Lila’s friendship ebbs and flows throughout their lives, as well as how their connection brings them back to each other and back home.

“In this case, it’s a special friendship, I think, also because it’s something very visceral. They are the different face[s] of the same people. And there are all the levels of a love story,” she said. “So sometimes, Elena is obsessive [with] Lila, and they change every time the balance between them. They are in connection and in rivalry every time and but they love each other. So I think it’s very special.

Maoirino and Rohrwacher have their own stories about the friends who have helped them in their lives. Interestingly enough, their stories mirror their characters’ stories, showing just how perfect the actors were for their roles.

“The series wasn’t to shoot yet, maybe two years before the shooting. My lifelong friend of mine named Alessia…she gave me the first book of Elena Ferrante. And I remember she looked at me and she say, Lila, this child is you when you were a child,” said Maoirino. “And then when the casting process started, I was speechless…Maybe thanks to Alessia and she really believed that I can be [this character], maybe more than me. And [our friendship] is in some way [like] My Brilliant Friend. She became a very famous teacher, she studied in the north of Italy, she had two children, she got married to a very good man. So in some way, Elena’s life [was like hers].”

“When I was a kid, I had friends like Lila that pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me to become the person that I am now. But now, [as I am aging], I have women in my life that to me are sisters, but without any struggle. In a very open way, we are able to help each other completely, but without the struggle that Lila and Elena have,” said Rohrwacher.

“I’m very lucky because I also have a sister. I grew up with my sister and she was my universe, and I was for her, because we grew up for in a very isolated place. So the first woman [who was] almost my age in my life is my sister,” she added.

Season 4 of My Brilliant Friend is currently airing on HBO.

My Brilliant Friend

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