Considering Ferrante's four Neapolitan novels came out between 2011 and 2014, there was plenty of time to anticipate and speculate what the show would be like. 

And while many fans were hoping that some more well-known celebrities might sign up to bring our favorite characters to life, director Saverio Costanzo had something else in mind entirely.

As Vogue tells it, Saverio made the artistic decision to keep much of the dialogue in the antiquated Neapolitan dialect so heavily present in the book. 

Plus, "in a bold nod to the Italian neorealist cinema of the 1950s, he would find amateurs to play the protagonists."