The upcoming return of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” might be getting more hype–I’m thrilled for it too–but I’m also excited for Season 2 of Showtime’s “The Borgias.”
The series returns at 9 p.m. April 8 and finds the “original crime family” facing threats from both its outside enemies and from within its own ranks. Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons), the man who bribed his way to becoming Pope Alexander VI, is seen in several of the promos in the gallery telling his sons, Cesare (Francois Arnaud) and Juan (David Oakes), that they must remain solid in their efforts to get revenge against the families that opposed his climb to the papacy, and to stop the French army from overtaking Rome–again.
But the brother’s sibling rivalry turns to resentment and, from the looks of it, hatred. Juan resents his father because he believes Rodrigo favors Cesare, while Cesare resents his father because Rodrigo made him become a man of the cloth instead of a general (Juan is the general). The brothers, of course, resent each other.
“I think and we’ll see in Season 2, I guess, what [Cesare] is ready to do to not be a cleric or a priest,” Arnaud told me toward the end of last season, adding that her personally hopes Cesare would give up the cardinalship. “I’m sick of that red dress,” he joked. (Read the Arnaud interview here.)
And let’s not forget Rodrigo’s daughter, Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger), who appears to be finding some independence, and sinister ways, of her own.
Enjoy the promos! Are you ready for more from “The Borgias?”
Curt Wagner, RedEye’s Show Patrol
