Jude Law stars in The Young Pope. (Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images)
He’s the pope, except he’s young and he’s played by Jude Law. That’s what The Young Pope, the new ambitious series from HBO, is all about. The show, which has already debuted in Europe to massive acclaim and popularity, finally starts in the U.S. on Sunday, January 15 at 9 p.m. ET. Read on for a preview of the episode.
The Young Pope is the first series from Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, the director of the Oscar-winning The Great Beauty and Youth. Jude Law plays Lenny Belardo, who becomes the first American pope. After being elected, he is known as Pope Pius XIII. Diane Keaton also stars as Sister May, the nun who raised Lenny in an orphanage and travels with him to Italy as his personal secretary. Scott Shepherd plays Cardinal Andrew Dussolier, Lenny’s lifelong friend.
Although the show was billed as a limited series, before the show debuted in Europe last fall, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that a second season is in the works. The show first aired on Sky networks in Italy, Austria, Germany, the U.K. and Ireland back in October. It is an international co-production between HBO, Sky, France’s Canal Plus and Italy’s Wildside.
The Young Pope‘s first season was the most expensive show produced in Italy, costing $45 million to make.
HBO will air episode two of The Young Pope on Monday, January 16 at 9 p.m. following an encore of episode one. The network will continue airing episodes on Sundays and Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.
PREMIERE DATE: Sunday, January 15, 2017
TIME: 9 p.m. ET
CHANNEL: HBO (To find out which channel HBO is for you, click here to go to TVGuide.com‘s listings and change “Provider” to your cable/satellite TV provider. An HBO subscription is required to watch HBO programming.)
EPISODE DESCRIPTION: “First Episode” – “In the premiere of a ten-part miniseries following the reign of Pope Pius XIII, aka Lenny Belardo, the first American pontiff, Vatican protocol and, it seems, the Catholic Church, mean little to Belardo, who hires the nun who raised him at an orphanage to be his main adviser and whose iconoclastic behavior irks the cardinals who resent his ascension.”
CAST:
Jude Law as Pope Pius XIII/Lenny Belardo
Diane Keaton as Sister Mary
Silvio Orlando as Cardinal Angelo Voiello
Javier Camara as Monsignor Bernardo Gutierrez
Scott Shepherd as Cardinal Andrew Dussolier
Cecile de France as Sofia
Ludivine Sagnier as Esther
Toni Bertorelli as Cardinal Caltanissetta
James Cromwell as Cardinal Michael Spencer
CREDITS:
Created by Paolo Sorrentino
Written by Paolo Sorrentino, Stefano Rulli, Tony Grisoni & Umberto Contarello
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino
Production Companies: Wildside (Italy), Haut et Court TV (France), Mediapro (Spain), Sky Atlantic (U.K.), HBO (U.S.) & Canal Plus (France)
To meet the cast of the series, click below: