Borgia (TV series)

Borgia: Faith and Fear
Genre	Historical fiction Transgressive fiction
Created by	Tom Fontana
Directed by	Oliver Hirschbiegel Dearbhla Walsh Metin Hüseyin Christoph Schrewe Thomas Vincent Athina Rachel Tsangari
Starring	John Doman Mark Ryder Stanley Weber Isolda Dychauk Marta Gastini Diarmuid Noyes Art Malik Assumpta Serna Christian McKay Dejan Čukić Scott Winters
Composer(s)	Cyril Morin (season 1) Eric Neveux (seasons 2–3)
Country of origin	France Germany Czech Republic Italy
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	38
Production
Executive producer(s)	Takis Candilis Tom Fontana Anne Thomopoulos Barry Levinson
Producer(s)	Klaus Zimmermann Fabrice de la Patellièr Ferdinand Dohna Jan Mojto Petr Moravec Aaron Seliquini (assistant)
Location(s)	Czech Republic Italy
Cinematography	Ousama Rawi (season 1 and 2) James Welland (season 3)
Running time	52 minutes
Release
Original network	Canal+ Sky (Italy) ZDF ORF 2 Netflix
Original release	10 July 2011 (2011-07-10) – 27 October 2014 (2014-10-27)
External links
Website

Borgia (also known as Borgia: Faith and Fear) is a French-German-Czech-Italian historical drama television series created by Tom Fontana. The show recounts the Borgia family's rise to power and subsequent domination of the Papal States during the Renaissance.^[1][2]

Borgia debuted in Italy via Sky Italia on 10 July 2011 and in North America via Netflix on 2 October 2011. It was since renewed for a second season, which premiered in France on Canal+ on 18 March 2013,^[3] and on Netflix on 1 May 2013. A third and final season premiered in France on Canal+ on 15 September 2014^[3] and on Netflix on 1 November 2014.^[4] The series finale aired in France on Canal+ on 27 October 2014 as the 38th episode overall.

Production

The series is produced by Atlantique Productions, a subsidiary of Lagardère Entertainment, for French premium-pay TV Canal+ in association with EOS Entertainment, and was filmed in the Czech Republic and in Italy. Czech production was held by company Etic films.^[2] International distribution is handled by Beta Film GmbH. Season 3 was filmed between 27 May 2013 and 27 January 2014.

International production

Even though the series is considered a French-German-Czech-Italian production, the whole setup is very international. The series creator, producer, and lead writer Tom Fontana, as well as the other writers including Sean Whitesell (House M.D., Cold Case, Homicide: Life on the Street),^[5] Gina Gionfriddo (Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent)^[6] and Larry Cohen (HBO's In Treatment, The Philanthropist), among several others are all American. Season 2 sees French writer Audrey Fouché join the writing team.^[7]

The directors come from several different parts of Europe, Oliver Hirschbiegel (Diana, The Invasion starring Daniel Craig)^[8] and Christoph Schrewe^[9] are Germans, Dearbhla Walsh is Irish and best known for her work in UK (The Tudors, Shameless, BBC's Little Dorrit),^[10] Metin Hüseyin is British (Inspector Lewis, Shameless, Merlin)^[11] and Thomas Vincent^[12] is French. The series follows a rather unusual format in that each director is in charge of directing at least two consecutive episodes before handing the series over to a new director.

The main character, Rodrigo Borgia, is portrayed by American actor John Doman^[13] (The Wire). The rest of the cast hails from United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Czech Republic, but countries like Republic of Ireland, Denmark, and Spain and several others are also represented.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• John Doman as Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia / Pope Alexander VI (seasons 1–3)
• Mark Ryder as Cardinal Cesare Borgia (seasons 1–3)
• Stanley Weber as Juan Borgia (regular season 1, guest seasons 2-3)
• Isolda Dychauk as Lucrezia Borgia (seasons 1–3)
• Marta Gastini as Giulia Farnese (seasons 1–3)
• Diarmuid Noyes as Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (seasons 1–3)
• Art Malik as Francesc Gacet, Rodrigo Borgia's secretary (seasons 1–3)
• Assumpta Serna as Vannozza Cattanei (seasons 1–3)
• Christian McKay as Cardinal Ascanio Sforza (seasons 1–2)
• Scott Winters as Cardinal Raffaele Riario-Sansoni (seasons 1–3)
• Dejan Čukić as Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (at least seasons 1 and 2)

Recurring cast

Guest starring

Episodes

Season 1 - Borgia: Faith and Fear (2011)

(March, 1492 – June, 1493)

Season 2 - Borgia: Rules of Love, Rules of War (2013)

(February, 1494 – September, 1494)

Season 3 - Borgia: Triumph and Oblivion (2014)

(1495 – 1507)

References

External links

• Borgia at the Internet Movie Database
• Lagardère Entertainment and Canal+ Press Release March 2009
• Official French website
• Article about Borgia on Austrian public TV website "ORF"