The Borgias (2011 TV series)

The Borgias is a historical drama television series created by Neil Jordan. It ran for three seasons from 2011 to 2013, when it was cancelled. Set in Renaissance-era Italy, the series follows the Borgia family in their scandalous ascension to the papacy. It stars Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI with François Arnaud as Cesare, Holliday Grainger as Lucrezia and David Oakes as Juan. Colm Feore also stars as Cardinal della Rovere.

The Borgias premiered on April 3, 2011 on Showtime in the US and Bravo! in Canada. That June it received its major television network premiere on the CTV Television Network. The second season followed on April 8, 2012 and the third on April 14, 2013. In June 2013, Showtime canceled the series, a season short of Jordan's planned four-season arc for the series. The cancellation was implied to be due to the expense of production, with plans for a two-hour wrap-up finale also scrapped. A fan campaign attempted to convince Showtime to revive the series, and in August it was announced that the series finale script would be released as an ebook, as a movie would be too expensive to produce.