James R | On 17, May 2017

Sky and HBO are reuniting to make The New Pope.

The joint production, which will be created and directed by Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino, follows the success of their collaboration on The Young Pope.

The show, which starred Jude Law and Diane Keaton, debuted last year and followed Lenny Belardo, the youngest and first American Pope in history, entering into the power struggles inside the closed, secretive Vatican state.

The series premiered at the Venice Film Festival, before going on to be released in October in the UK and earlier this year in the USA. “This behind-the-scenes Vatican (soap) opera is a highly nuanced and elegantly mounted spectacle,” we wrote in our review of the programme.

The box set remains available on Sky Box Sets and NOW. For those who want more, though, it won’t be too long until Sorrentino returns for a second series set in the world of the modern Papacy.

The screenplay for The New Pope is being written by Paolo Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello . The series will be produced by Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani for Wildside, in co-production with Mediapro. The international distributor is FremantleMedia International.

Casting for the role of the new Pope, as well as additional roles, will soon be underway, with production expected to start late next year in Italy.

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