Fans of the Brooklyn-based crime drama series “Gravesend” have a reason to rejoice with the announcement of the show’s highly anticipated third season.
The popular Amazon Prime show centers on the historic south Brooklyn neighborhood during the 1980s and tells the story of its central character Benny Zerletta, a self-described “soldier” in the Italian mafia.
Zerletta is played by the show’s writer and director William DeMeo who created the show as an homage to the neighborhood he grew up in.
“It’s about the neighborhood, but it’s also about heart,” said DeMeo. “It’s about loyalty and it’s about community. It’s about the people, not just Benny, but it’s about everyone.”
The show’s third season will see much of the same elements as the first season, including epic fight scenes, stories of friendship and family and shoutouts to iconic neighborhood spots. Previous filming locations have included such spots as L&B Spumoni Gardens, Michael’s Restaurant, Lenny’s Pizzeria on 86th Street, and John’s Deli on Stillwell Avenue.
“We’re moving into season three, which we plan on shooting spring or summer of 2024. We knew we were gonna do season three but we were on strike [and now] the strike is over,” DeMeo said. “Now we’re gonna get ready to start pre-production and casting season three, which will be shot primarily right in Brooklyn right here in Gravesend and all over Brooklyn and other areas of New York.”
DeMeo also wanted to assure fans that, although much of the show will stay the same, there will be some exciting additions to look forward to as well.
“We’re very excited and a lot of the cast will be back. A lot of the same cast members and people that you’ve seen will be there, but there’ll be other people joining as well as some other great faces and some well-known people,” teased DeMeo.
Previous cast members include the legendary actors like Fran Drescher, Vincent Pastore, Tony Darrow, Joseph D’Onofrio, Martin Kove, William Forsythe and DeMeo’s son, Christian.
“I’ve watched him grow as a young actor and watched him elevate, and he takes it really seriously,” the star said. “We get to spend time on set all day because, not only is he an actor on the show, but he’s part of production. He watches my back and I can trust him with anything.”
DeMeo is enthusiastic about the upcoming third season, citing the show’s growing popularity and the outpour of support he has received on social media he has received for the show’s previous two seasons.
“People keep asking for more episodes,” DeMeo said. “Now they’re going to get the answer – we’re going to be shooting season three!”
