With “Chernobyl,” “Barry,” “Veep,” “Big Little Lies,” and most recently, “Watchmen,” HBO has had a hell of a year. (Sorry, “Game of Thrones,” you didn’t quite make the cut.) And it looks like the premium network is kicking off 2020 with a bang, thanks to the return of Jude Law’s ‘Young Pope’ in a new series titled “The New Pope.”
As seen in the trailer for “The New Pope,” Law is back as Pope Pius XIII, but after the events of last season, the character has to retake his title as leader of the Catholic Church. Standing in his way is none other than the new Pope, played by John Malkovich.
We were able to watch a few episodes from “The New Pope” during this year’s Venice Film Festival, and in our review, we said, “And therein lies what makes ‘The New Pope’ so fascinating: it’s more than just a secular, skeptical take on sectarianism. It’d be easy, after all, to vacuously take down an institution so vehemently corrupt as the Vatican. What Sorrentino does here is interrogate core aspects of the human condition – death, grief, loneliness, suffering, sex – through a lens of religiosity. Ultimately, it’s excellent.”
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Joining Law and Malkovich in the cast are Silvio Orlando, Javier Cámara, Cécile de France, Ludivine Sagnier, Maurizio Lombardi, Henry Goodman, Ulrich Thomsen, Mark Ivanir, Yuliya Snigir, and Massimo Ghini, as well as guest stars Sharon Stone and Marilyn Manson.
As with “The Young Pope,” all nine episodes of “The New Pope” are directed by Paolo Sorrentino. The filmmaker co-wrote the new series alongside Umberto Contarello and Stefano Bises.
“The New Pope” debuts on HBO on January 13, 2020.
Here’s the synopsis:
Following his sudden heart attack, Pope Pius XIII (Jude Law) lies in a coma while his followers fervently pray for a miraculous recovery. As the threat of terrorism and the potential risks of Pius’s idolatry loom, Secretary of State Cardinal Voiello (Silvio Orlando) is pressured to bring a new pope to power and, with the conclave at a deadlock, makes a hasty move that throws the Church into even greater chaos.