Last night, just before the highly anticipated debut ofWestworld, HBO dropped a new teaser trailer for the upcoming seriesThe Young Pope. Created and directed byPaolo Sorrentino, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behindYouthandThe Great Beauty, the show starsJude Lawas the fictional Pope Pius XIII and revolves around the newly elected (and American) Pope struggling with his responsibilities.
Instead of showing a nice, good-natured Pope trying to do right by the job, this show looks like it has a much more sinister vibe, and I’m not sure if the series will have a bit of a horror bent or will just be very, very dark—it feels like the Catholic version ofHouse of Cards. Regardless, this is sure to create some controversy within the religious community given the importance of the papacy, although if you’ve got to cast a fictional Pope you can’t really do better than Jude Law. Moreover, the addition ofDiane Keatonas an American nun who raised Pius and helped him ascend to the papacy adds yet another layer of intrigue.
In keeping with this new trend of auteur-driven TV, Sorrentino directed all 10 episodes of the series. Sometimes that works out great as withCary Fukunaga’sTrue DetectiveSeason 1 orSteven Soderbergh’sThe Knick, and sometimes it results in disappointment as withSam Esmail’sMr. RobotSeason 2. However, given that Sorrentino is already an accomplished feature filmmaker, one imagines he’ll have no trouble navigating story and character all on his own.
Check out the tantalizing new teaser trailer below.The Young Popewill debut on Sky Atlantic in Italy and Germany on October 21st and in the UK on October 27th, and then will hit HBO in February 2017 in the U.S.
Here’s the official synopsis forThe Young Pope:
THE YOUNG POPE tells the controversial story of the beginning of PIUS XIII’s Pontificate. Born Lenny Belardo, he is a complex and conflicted character, so conservative in his choices as to border on obscurantism, yet full of compassion towards the weak and poor. He is a man of great power who is stubbornly resistant to the Vatican courtiers, unconcerned with the implications to his authority. During the series, Belardo will face losing those closest to him and the constant fear of being abandoned, even by his God. He is, however, not afraid of undertaking the millennial mission of defending that same God and the world representing Him.
