The numbers coming out of Sky’s latest venture into the legal drama genre are strong enough to trigger a production restart. Even as an official announcement is still pending, the internal performance metrics for Avvocato Ligas have been so positive that Sky Studios and Fabula Pictures are reportedly preparing for a second season.
The decision to move forward is rooted in a rare combination of high initial reach and exceptional viewer retention. In an era of “fragmented attention,” the series managed to retain nearly its entire audience engaged from the first episode to the finale, positioning the show as a significant commercial asset for the broadcaster.
From a financial perspective, the first six episodes required an investment of 11.5 million euros. The net cost was slightly offset by a tax credit of 2.4 million euros, a common mechanism used to incentivize high-quality domestic production in Italy. For Sky, the return on this investment is measured not just in raw viewership, but in the “stickiness” of the content.
Analyzing the Audience Metrics: Why a Second Season is Likely
The data suggests that Avvocato Ligas has tapped into a specific appetite for polished, urban storytelling. Each of the six episodes averaged one million viewers within a seven-day window. The premiere was particularly strong, reaching 1.5 million viewers over its first four weeks of availability.
These figures place the series in an elite bracket. It currently stands as the third most-watched Sky original series since 2021, trailing only behind Gomorra 5 and Hanno ucciso l’Uomo Ragno. However, the most telling statistic is the completion rate: 97% of viewers who started the series finished it. This level of engagement is further evidenced by a 41% increase in viewership between the seven-day and 28-day marks, indicating a strong “long tail” of discovery.
The digital footprint of the show mirrors this success, with 13.5 million video views and 361,000 social media interactions, suggesting that the show’s appeal extends beyond the traditional television screen and into the active conversation of social platforms.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Average Viewership (7-day) | 1 Million per episode |
| Premiere Reach (28-day) | 1.5 Million |
| Viewer Completion Rate | 97% |
| Production Cost | €11.5 Million |
| Tax Credit Recovery | €2.4 Million |
The ‘American’ Blueprint in a Milanese Setting
The series is based on the mystery novel Un caso complicato per l’avvocato Ligas. Perdenti by Gianluca Ferraris, published by Corbaccio. The adaptation has been praised for blending the aesthetic of a high-end American legal drama with a distinctly Italian identity. What we have is achieved primarily through its setting and sound.
The show makes a conscious choice to lean into the Milanese identity, utilizing a regional accent and atmosphere that is rarely highlighted in Italian television. To achieve this “big city” feel, approximately 70% of the filming took place in Milan, though the production relied heavily on drone cinematography and wide-angle establishing shots to capture the city’s scale, rather than focusing on street-level actor interactions.
Interestingly, the legal authenticity of the show was a construction. While the spirit of the show is Milanese, the courtroom environments—central to any legal drama—were entirely reconstructed on sets in Rome, allowing the production team total control over lighting and choreography to mimic the sleek look of international legal procedurals.
Creative Risks and the ‘Cruciani’ Controversy
While the overall reception has been positive, one particular plot point sparked significant discussion within the media industry. In one episode, the protagonist, played by Luca Argentero, defends a radio host named Sandro Masi (portrayed by Valerio Aprea). Masi is a thinly veiled caricature of the provocative Italian broadcaster Giuseppe Cruciani, and his show, Strike, is a direct nod to the real-life La Zanzara.
This storyline was not present in Ferraris’ original novels; it was an autonomous addition by the screenwriters, reportedly driven by a fan of Cruciani’s chaotic broadcasting style. The episode reaches a climax when the fictional Masi, accused of instigation to commit a crime, is thrown—fully clothed—into the Naviglio Grande.
Reports indicate that the real-life Cruciani did not appreciate the depiction. This tension highlights the delicate balance the show maintains between fictional entertainment and the satire of real-world media personalities, a gamble that ultimately contributed to the show’s social media visibility and “buzz” factor.
What’s Next for the Series?
As the production machinery of Sky Studios and Fabula Pictures prepares to restart, the focus will likely shift to expanding the narrative scope of the series while maintaining the high production values that defined the first season. The primary challenge for the writers will be sustaining the 97% retention rate by delivering cases that are as intellectually stimulating as they are visually polished.
While a formal release date for the second season has not been announced, the industry expectation is that pre-production will begin shortly to capitalize on the current momentum. We expect further updates regarding the cast and plot directions as Sky moves toward a formal greenlight announcement.
Do you feel the “Americanized” style works for Italian legal dramas? Share your thoughts in the comments or share this article with fellow series fans.
