Walter Presents: Season 3 of Italian crime drama The Hunter

Series description: Fact-based Italian crime thriller set in the dangerous cauldron of Palermo in the 1990s. An ambitious magistrate has an instinct for tracking down top Mafiosi.

Original title: Il cacciatore

Watch it here.

Season 1 UK premiere date: 16 April 2021 (12 x 50-60m)

Season 2 UK premiere date: 15 April 2022 (8 x 51-58m)

Season 3 UK premiere date: Friday, 21 April 2023.

Seasons 1 to 3 are already available in the US via Walter Presents on PBS Masterpiece as well as Walter Presents via Roku & Comcast Xfinity.

More detailed series description via press release:

Based on a true story, a Sicilian prosecutor with a killer instinct for tracking down top Mafiosi soon becomes known as ‘The Hunter’ – but success will come at huge personal cost in WALTER PRESENTS: THE HUNTER (Il cacciatore).

It’s 1993 Italy and the mafia are at war as rival families fight for control of Palermo’s streets, causing bloodshed of the innocent. After years of street-level arrests, young and ambitious provincial prosecutor Saverio Barone finds the guts to stand up for what’s right, starting with turning in his own boss. This leads to bitterness amongst his colleagues, however the chief of Palermo’s Antimafia Pool takes notice and appoints Barone to his unit. He is uniquely equipped for the job, and thanks to a succession of spectacular raids and front-page arrests, three hundred Mafiosi will be taken into custody. But this obsession causes him to isolate himself from his partner who only recently gave birth to his daughter. Is going down in history worth risking the ones who love you most?

Lead actor Francesco Montanari – who viewers may also recognise from his role as Libanese in the series Romanzo Criminale – won Best Performance at Cannes International Series Festival for his role as Saverio Barone. The Hunter also won Best Crime Series at the Golden Umbrella TV Awards.

Series 3 info. via press release [Possible SPOILERS for earlier seasons]:

Since the devastating murder of an innocent child, Saverio Barone (Francesco Montanari) has made it his mission to prosecute the people responsible – the Sicilian Mafia. However, now that his identity has been revealed he is in immediate grave danger. Series three begins with Saverio emerging from hiding years after leaving his family. He is desperate to see his daughter and wife again, which fuels his vendetta to prosecute the chief of the Corleonesi Mafia clan, Bernardo Provenzano (Marcello Mazzerella). Meanwhile, gang member Vito Vitale (Paolo Ricca) is on a ruthless mission to murder the prosecutor and anyone else standing in his way. With a target on his back, it’s a race against time for Saverio to unearth enough evidence to prosecute Provenzano before Vitale kills him. This time Saverjo pretends to be a low-key and unambitious prosecutor, disguising himself as small fry in a world of much bigger fish.  However, unlike before, Saverio accepts that he needs help, and this time turns to Paola Romano (Linda Caridi), a young prosecutor with very different methods, for his daughter Carlotta and partner Giada (). Longing to reunite with his wife Giada (Miriam Dalmazio) and his daughter Carlotta, he must first succeed in dismantling the Corleonesi gang.

Link to imdb page.

Other useful links:

Drama Quarterly interview with Executive producers Michele Zatta and Ferdinand Dohna
Foreign Crime Drama Season 1 Review