“They Killed Spider-Man – the legendary story of the 883” directed by Sydney Sibilia is having a great success. Arriving on Sky with an important advertising launch – but without the pharaonic fanfare to which we have been accustomed recently – the series tells of the success of the duo formed by Max Pezzali and Mauro Repetto, played respectively by Elia Nuzzolo and Matteo Giuggioli, two excellent actors in we will hear about his rise for a long time to come (recently Nuzzolo was also the young Mike Bongiorno in the Rai 1 drama of the same name).

In an era where it is difficult to measure the success of an on-demand series, that of the 883 series is an undeniable phenomenon. Just look at a factor that appeals to platforms which in fact spend a good part of their promotion investments on this: social media. Memes, fancams, videos on TikTok were born around the series and some controversy was also generated, a real litmus test of the success of a series. A post on circuits in which we usually talk about television series.

Mauro Repetto: “The 883s weren’t my dream, Max Pezzali understood it. Reunion? We could write a series”

That of They Killed Spider-Man was an unexpected success given that, in the face of large investments in both production and promotion (signs, social media, work with influencers), very often series that can enjoy decidedly more important promotion recording results far below expectations, especially if we consider that in this case the protagonists are two very good actors but practically unknown to the general public. Written and directed by Sydney Sibilia, the series is decidedly well written and well shot, but these two factors alone are not enough to explain its success, given that in the face of a series production always which (we can define without fear of contradiction) reveal poor products, there are others that are objectively excellent such as Prisma, The Bad Guy, Little Fish and other high-level Sky series.

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The three secrets of success

If quality isn’t the only element that shifts audiences’ favor, why is They Killed Spider-Man being liked so much? There are three factors involved which will certainly have been studied carefully by producers and networks and which have contributed to the success of the whole operation, one of these is certainly the nostalgia effect. Anyone who was very young or even a child in the nineties is now an adult and therefore a consumer capable of spending, especially if they have a Sky subscription. We are therefore talking about a very greedy segment of the public for sponsors and advertisers who could in some way justify investing in a product set in those years. But it’s not enough. Yes, because They Killed Spider-Man is also a teen series: it is about two young, slightly unlucky provincial boys who, thanks to their talent, manage to achieve fame and success; the fact that it is a true story is an additional element, but it is the decisive one: if it is undeniable that the topic has generated a minimum of curiosity and that it has led many people to watch the first episodes, what has kept the public glued it’s the fact of being able to identify with its protagonists. It’s impossible not to recognize yourself in the clumsiness of Max Pezzali’s character, in his unrequited crushes, in his lack of self-confidence; It’s impossible not to want to have a friend like Mauro Repetto next to him, always ready to ease tensions with a joke or a dance, always moved by sincere affection towards his friend Max. Wanting to say it in one sentence: Mauro Repetto is the friend who we would all like it.

They killed Spider-Man, behind the scenes with the actors: “We are friends like Max Pezzali and Repetto”

And here we come to the real special ingredient, the theme around which the whole series revolves and which has won over the public: friendship. This is the central element of They Killed Spider-Man, the topic that makes us excite, throb and recognize even when it breaks down. Just think of another great success of recent decades, Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, a saga that is about two friends and how their relationship has evolved over the years. Even there the temporal factor is decisive – given that the events of Lila and Lenù are intertwined with the historical facts they go through – and even in that case nostalgia and memory frame the story. But it is the friendship between the protagonists that holds everything together as, upon closer inspection, happens in the 883 series and in the Wham documentary which arrived on Netflix almost a year ago.

There will be a second season (and maybe a third)

Sydney Sibilia has already announced that there will be a second season of They Killed Spider-Man but it is difficult to imagine that the series could have a third. It remains to be hoped that producers and platforms have understood the lesson: the public wants well-written stories, with a strong theme that hits them in the heart. Everything else is a side dish and, perhaps, it is not worth investing in pharaonic promotional campaigns if at the basis of everything there is not a story capable of making us emotional.