The Borgias (2011 TV series)

For the series created by Tom Fontana, see Borgia (TV series).

The Borgias
Genre	Historical fiction
Created by	Neil Jordan
Starring	Jeremy Irons François Arnaud Holliday Grainger Joanne Whalley Lotte Verbeek David Oakes Sean Harris Simon McBurney Steven Berkoff Aidan Alexander Colm Feore
Theme music composer	Trevor Morris
Country of origin	Canada Hungary Ireland
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Neil Jordan Jack Rapke Darryl Frank John Weber Sheila Hockin James Flynn
Producers	Neil Jordan Michael Hirst
Production location	Hungary
Running time	55 minutes
Production companies	Take 5 Productions CTV Showtime
Original release
Network	Bravo! (Canada) Showtime (U.S.) CTV Television Network (Canada) Sky Atlantic (U.K.)
Release	April 3 (2011-04-03) – May 22, 2011 (2011-05-22)
Related
The Tudors (2007-10)

The Borgias is a 2011 historical fiction television series created by Neil Jordan.

The series is based on the Borgia family, an Italian dynasty of Spanish origin, and stars Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI with François Arnaud as Cesare, Holliday Grainger as Lucrezia, David Oakes as Juan and Aidan Alexander as Gioffre Borgia, respectively. Derek Jacobi and Colm Feore also star as Cardinals Orsini and della Rovere.

It premiered on April 3, 2011, at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime in the United States and 10 p.m. Eastern (UTC−04:00) on Bravo! in Canada., and received its first major television network premiere on June 21, 2011 on Canada's CTV Television Network.

On April 25, 2011, Showtime ordered a second season of The Borgias.

Plot overview

The series follows the rise of the Borgia family to the pinnacle of the Roman Catholic Church and their struggles to maintain their grip on power. The beginning of the first season depicts the election of Rodrigo Borgia to the papacy through simony and bribery with the help of his son, Cesare. The triumph of Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, in the papal conclave enrages his rivals in the College of Cardinals, some of whom decided to plot against him. With the help of his family, Alexander takes on his enemies while striking alliances with other European powers to strengthen his position.

Meanwhile, Alexander's great rival, Cardinal Della Rovere travels across Italy and France to seek allies to depose the pope. He manages to persuade King Charles of France to assist him in removing Pope Alexander in exchange for supporting the King's claim to the throne of Naples, an ally of the Borgias through marriage. Season one culminates with Charles and his army, accompanied by Della Rovere, marching to Rome and finally coming to a head with the Borgias.

Cast

Main cast

• Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander VI: An ambitious clergyman and head of the Borgia family. He uses his position to acquire power and influence. Shrewd and scheming, he is utterly devoted to his family, but also enjoys the company of beautiful women.
• François Arnaud as Cesare Borgia: Son of Rodrigo, he is his father's consigliere in the church. However, he desires to leave the priesthood, preferring warfare to the clergy. He has a violent streak, killing anyone to help the family's cause or eliminate romantic rivals. His devotion to his sister Lucrezia is his one weak spot.
• Holliday Grainger as Lucrezia Borgia: Daughter of Rodrigo, and the apple of her father's eye. From its onset, the series hints at the rumors of an incestuous relationship between her and her brother Cesare. Beautiful and wise, she is betrothed at a young age to the cold Giovanni Sforza, and suffered from an unhappy marriage. She uses her wit and charm to save her father from being deposed.
• Joanne Whalley as Vannozza dei Cattanei: A courtesan and the aging mother of the pope's children. Her position as the matriarch of the family is threatened by the Borgias newly acquired powers and the pope's new mistress.
• Lotte Verbeek as Giulia Farnese: The beautiful mistress of the pope. An independent and wise woman herself, she earns the trust of Pope Alexander and becomes a close friend and mentor to Lucrezia.
• David Oakes as Juan Borgia: Son of Rodrigo and Gonfalonier of the Papal Armies. He behaves recklessly and arrogantly but is an inept coward.
• Sean Harris as Michelotto Corella: The condottiero of Cesare Borgia. He carries out ruthless killings under the order of Cesare to keep the Borgia family in power.
• Aidan Alexander as Joffre Borgia: The barely pubescent youngest son of the pope. He is married to Sancia of Naples by the pope to secure an alliance with the kingdom to consolidate his papacy.
• Colm Feore as Giuliano della Rovere: A powerful cardinal in the church. After losing the papal election to Rodrigo Borgia, he devotes himself to deposing the new pope, whom he sees as lewd and blasphemous. After Alexander VI's death, he will become Pope Julius II and engineer the death of Cesare Borgia

Supporting cast

• Ronan Vibert as Giovanni Sforza: The Lord of Pesaro, picked as the husband of Lucrezia by the pope in exchange for support from the Sforza clan. The cold and brutish man, he raped Lucrezia repeatedly at the beginning of the marriage, but broke his leg after falling off a horse thanks to a scheme by Lucrezia. He betrays the alliance with the Borgias by refusing to support them against the impending French invasion. He was later humiliated by the Borgias, and his marriage was annulled on the grounds of impotence.
• Steven Berkoff as Girolamo Savonarola: An influential priest in Florence who preaches against the corruption in the church.
• Simon McBurney as Johannes Burchard: A scholar in Rome whom the pope turns to for advice on canon law.
• Augustus Prew as Alfonso II of Naples: The eldest son of King Ferdinand I of Naples. His father was old and senile, leaving himself as the effective ruler of Naples.
• Derek Jacobi as Cardinal Orsini (fictional character): One of the cardinals who plotted against Pope Alexander. Poisoned to death at the instruction of Cesare Borgia.
• Ruta Gedmintas as Ursula Bonadeo/Sister Martha: A noblewoman who engaged in a passionate extra-marital affair with Cesare Borgia. After Cesare murdered her husband, she rejected his love out of guilt and joined the nunhood, receiving the new name of Sister Martha.
• Elyes Gabel as Prince Cem (Djem or Jem): A rival to the Ottoman throne, who was banished by his brother, the Sultan. Pope Alexander accepted the Sultan's offer to host Cem in exchange for financial reward. Cem was eventually killed by the Borgias, who used the much more substantial reward to pay for Lucrezia's dowry.
• Montserrat Lombard as Maria, a maid in the Orsini Palace during Giulia Farnese's stay there who is willing to testify on her indiscretions with the Pope and pays the price for it.
• Emmanuelle Chriqui as Sancha of Aragon: The illegitimate daughter of the King of Naples. When a marriage to the Borgias was proposed, Juan refused to marry her due to her illegitimacy. She was married instead to Joffre, but Juan became struck by her beauty and began an affair with her.
• Vernon Dobtcheff as Cardinal Julius Verscucci (fictional character)
• Bosco Hogan as Cardinal Piccolomini
• Luke Pasqualino as Paolo: The young servant of Giovanni Sforza. Charmed by Lucrezia, he is outraged by his master's treatment of her and sabotages Sforza's saddle, causing his master to suffer a serious injury. He and Lucrezia later have an affair, and he fathers a child with her. After this discovery, he helped her escape from the Sforza household, at the cost of a violent whipping from his master for it.
• Gina Mckee as Caterina Sforza: Cousin of Giovanni Sforza and well-known military leader. Like the rest of the Sforzas, she refused to support the pope against the impending invasion by the French.
• Peter Sullivan as Ascanio Sforza: A powerful cardinal who becomes chancellor in a deal with Rodrigo Borgia to elect Borgia as pope. Sforza arranged the marriage between Lucrezia Borgia and his cousin, Giovanni.
• Julian Bleach as Niccolò Machiavelli: A senior official in the Republic of Florence, he carefully considered the offers of alliance by Cardinal Della Rovere and Cesare Borgia. Della Rovere pushes for Florence to give free passage of the French army on their way to Rome. He was upset when the Medicis yield hopelessly to the demands of the King of France in the face of total destruction of Florence by the French armies.
• Ivan Kaye as Ludovico Sforza: The brutish Duke of Milan who seized the throne and imprisoned his own nephew in the process. Despite an alliance of the Sforzas and the pope, he allowed the French army free passage through Milan on the way to Rome.
• Michel Muller as Charles VIII: King of France and commander of one of the most feared armies in Europe. He claimed the throne of Naples, and was enticed by Cardinal Della Rovere to pursue those claims, in return for deposing Pope Alexander. Insecure about his height, looks and faith, he was charmed by Lucrezia Borgia on his way to seizing Rome, and later talked into an alliance by the pope, who agreed to recognize him as King of Naples.
• David Lowe as the French Ambassador to Rome.

Production

The series is an international co-production, directed by an Irishman, filmed in Hungary, and produced in Canada. Filming in Hungary mainly took place at the Korda Studios in Etyek, just west of Budapest.

Neil Jordan was trying to direct a film about the Borgia reign for over a decade and the project had many times come close to fruition, with stars such as Colin Farrell and Scarlett Johansson attached to it. In 2010, Steven Spielberg, the head of DreamWorks Pictures (now a producer of The Borgias), suggested the film turned into a cable drama and Neil Jordan took the idea over to Showtime executives who, wanting to fill the void historical series The Tudors was going to leave after its final season, commissioned the series. Neil Jordan has stated that the ideal would be a series of four seasons so he can span at least the period of Rodrigo Borgia's papacy (1492-1503).

For the role of Rodrigo Borgia, Neil Jordan turned to Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons, known for roles of villains and antiheros. The actor initially had second thoughts about his being suitable for the role who is in history described as a tall, obese, dark complexioned Spaniard, but the creator wanted him to focus on the aspects of the character’s obsession with power and life, which the actor could play to the hilt.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Borgias episodes

The first season consists of nine episodes; the premiere encompassed two episodes, with the remaining seven episodes being first-aired each week following.

Reception

The show's first season received generally favorable reviews in the United States, scoring 66 out of 100 based on 25 critics on Metacritic. Robert Bianco of USA Today said: "... seen from a safe distance, captured by a sterling cast led in marvelous high style by Jeremy Irons, and presented with all the brio, flair and sumptuous design TV can muster, the infamous family is almost addictively entertaining." Linda Stasi of the New York Post gave the season a 3.5/4 rating, remarking "'The Borgias' (the series) makes 'The Tudors' look like a bunch of amateurs with bigger lips."

However, it was panned in the United Kingdom (where, ironically, a BBC miniseries titled The Borgias had also infamously flopped thirty years earlier (Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood, About Time Volume 5, Page 51)). Rachel Ray of The Daily Telegraph called Irons' performance "disappointingly undiabolical." She added that the show is "for history buffs, not for viewers looking for another Godfather." Sarah Dempster of The Guardian mocked the show's dialogue and visual style: "The ridiculousness mounts. The opening double bill features impromptu palazzo brawls between priapic gadabouts in bejewelled codpieces ("Back to Spain, Borgia!") and flocks of miffed cardinals gliding along darkened corridors like motorised pepperpots." The Independent's Holly Williams praised Irons, but said elsewhere, "the acting and script feel about as substantial as a communion wafer. With power struggles, sex, assassinations and sibling rivalries, it should, at least, be racy and fun. Yet the storyline often feels curiously ungripping."

External links

• The Borgias at IMDb
• borgias.bravo.ca, Official website at Bravo!
• sho.com/borgias, Official website at Showtime