If you believe as sincerely as I do that the ruthless Naples-set drug-world epic Gomorrah is the best international crime series on TV (and single-handedly justifies a subscription to HBO Max), and you also feel that Gomorrahs recently released season fourwhile gripping and grimy and impeccably shotwas just maybe lacking a little something without the presence of its brooding antihero star Ciro Di Marzio, well...are you in for a summer treat. The Immortal (LImmortale), the Gomorrah spin-off feature film (already a box office hit in Italy), is finally coming to the U.S., and will stream exclusively on HBO Max on July 29.

The trailer just dropped, and I can practically hear the cheers of Gomorrahs obsessives everywhere. Thats because The Immortal represents the return of the actor Marco DAmore as Ciro, the handsome, violent, sensitive, absolutely uncompromising soldier of the Naples underworld. (DAmore also wrote and directed the film.) During three seasons of Gomorrah, which is based on the best-selling book about the Naples mob by Roberto Saviano, Ciro survived one fix after another, losing everyone he loved in the processand he emerges here as a dead-eyed loner with nothing to live for. In The Immortal, Ciro arrives in Riga, the capital of Latvia, and finds himself split between rival violent gangs: the Russian mafia to whom he is selling drugs and a roughneck Latvian crew that wants in on the action. The film also tells the story of Ciros boyhood in Naples. A sequel and an origin story, Gomorrah has the only expanded universe I care about.

The trailer takes you back to the cliff-hanger at the end of season three, and then gives just hints of whats to come on July 29: blasted central European cityscapes, tatted-up tough guys, and Ciro looking soulful and powerful at every turn. Forget the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Forget CGI popcorn spectacles. The Immortal is the only summer blockbuster I need.

More:
Watch the Trailer for The Immortal, the Only Summer Movie I Care About - Vogue