The producers of Netflix and Rai’s “Medici: Masters of Florence” have completed casting for season two, with Daniel Sharman and Bradley James among the new names on the Frank Spotnitz and Nicholas Meyer-created Italian period drama, Variety has learned.
An international cast is headed by Sharman (“Fear the Walking Dead”), who will take the lead role, playing a young Lorenzo the Magnificent in 15th century Florence. James (“Damien”) will star as his brother Giuliano.
Shooting on the €24 million ($28 million), eight-episode, series gets underway in Rome on August 24. Other key cast members for season two include Julian Sands (“Gotham”) as Lorenzo and Giuliano’s father, Piero, and Sebastian De Souza (“Crossing Lines”) as their friend, Sandro Botticelli.
The sophomore season of “Medici” is set 20 years after the events of the first. A young Lorenzo, the grandson of Richard Madden’s character Cosimo from the first series, is forced to take over the family bank, which has been mismanaged by his father.
As Lorenzo, his brother, and Botticelli set about trying to make Florence a great financial and cultural center, they face off against the Pazzi family, and Pope Sixtus IV, played by Raul Bova (“Alien vs. Predator”).
Sean Bean had already been announced as the Medici family’s nemesis Jacopo Pazzi. Lorenzo’s mother is played by Sarah Parish “Hatfields & McCoys”) and his mistress by Alessandra Mastronardi (“Master of None”).
The series is produced by Italy’s Lux Vide, public broadcaster Rai’s drama unit, and Frank Spotnitz’s company Big Light. “The X Files” writer Frank Spotnitz created the series with “Star Trek’s” Nicholas Meyer. Jon Cassar, executive producer and director on “24: Legacy” and “24: Live Another Day” will direct.
“Medici: Masters of Florence” will be a Netflix Original in the U.S., U.K., Canada, India, and Taiwan and Rai is the broadcaster in Italy. Altice Studio is a co-production partner and has it for its SFR Play streaming service in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. In Spain, it is with Telefonica’s Movistar Plus.
