Starz is banking on David S. Goyer tapping some of his magic from Batman Begins and bringing it to the small screen in Da Vinci’s Demons, the upcoming new cable series poised to take over for Spartacus.
Da Vinci’s Demons is a historical series that twists the early years of Leonardo Da Vinci into a violent and graphic fantasy. In the same way that Spartacus has reveled in gore and nudity, Da Vinci’s Demons will do the same and attempt to capture the same audience.
British actor Tom Riley plays Da Vinci who uses his thirst for knowledge and skills to become a sort of historical superhero who works to “free the future” from an elite society who wish to suppress knowledge. Speaking at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, Goyer admits he and the crew have “embellished it with a little bit of what I’m calling historical fantasy,” going on to state that the story is about 85 percent accurate to the historical record.
Goyer is no stranger to the superhero genre with his work on Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, Blade and Man of Steel. With Da Vinci’s Demons, Goyer will attempt to find success with heroes on the small screen where he previously struggled with the one-season-and-done ABC Sci-Fi series FlashForward.
Da Vinci’s Demons also stars Laura Haddock as Lucrezia Donati, Blake Ritson as Count Riario, Elliot Cowan as Lorenzo Medici, and Lara Pulver as Clarice Orsini, will run eight episodes, and premiere on Friday, April 12.
