Showtime Pulls Trigger on Jeremy Irons' 'The Borgias'

Stage and screen star Jeremy Irons will star in Showtime's new historical drama The Borgias. The new series, replacing Showtime's The Tudors, will premiere in early 2011. Creator Neil Jordan executive produces alongside Michael Hirst who produced The Tudors.  The Tudors will end its four year run this year.  Jordan will reportedly helm the first two episodes.

Variety reports that Showtime has ordered 10 episodes of the show.

Set in Italy in 1942, The Borgias centers on the powerful crime family headed by patriarch Rodrigo Borgia (Irons), who, despite his reputation, became pope in 1492. The show was created by film director Neil Jordan and will be exec produced by Jordan along with Michael Hirst, whose current historical drama, The Tudors, is set to conclude its four-season run this year.

As previously reported, prior to this stint, Jeremy Irons will return to the Royal Shakespeare Company this spring to lead the cast of a new play, THE GODS WEEP. The world premiere, by Dennis Kelly, plays at The Hampstead Theatre from March 12 thru April 3. 

The Tony and Oscar-winning actor Irons rejoins the RSC after 23 years away to star in Kelly's THE GOD'S WEEP, a play about a corporate giant who decides to split his power among his subordinates, unleashing a bloody struggle.

The multi award-winning star of stage and screen, whose film credits include "Reversal Of Fortune" - for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role - "Dead Ringers, "The Lion King" and "Die Hard With A Vengeance," last worked with the company in the 1986/7 season when he appeared in THE WINTER'S TALE and RICHARD II. His most recent London stage appearances came in 2006's EMBERS and 2008's NEVER SO GOOD.

For more information, or to order tickets to THE GODS WEEP, visit www.hampsteadtheater.com or call 020-7722-9301.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.