HBO and Sky have filled out the cast for The Young Pope, their new miniseries starring Jude Law as Pius XIII, the hip, fresh pontiff who’s ready to rap with all the kids. The biggest name among the newly cast crew is James Cromwell, operating in “genial mentor” mode as Cardinal Michael Spencer, who guides Kid Pope (real name: Lenny Belardo) through his new position as the leader of both one of the world’s major religions, and also a whole crew of halberd-wielding knight dudes. (Cromwell presumably reserves the right to switch over into “sinister, vaguely avuncular bad guy” mode as the series’ story dictates.)
Other new cast members include Silvio Orlando, Scott Shepherd, Cécile de France, Javier Cámara, and Ludivine Sagnier, most of whom are playing Vatican officials and functionaries for the radical pontiff to outrage with his skateboarding antics and tubular ‘tude. In terms of Christ-cred, director Paolo Sorrentino has also cast Toni Bertorelli, who appeared as one of the Roman officials judging Jesus in The Passion Of The Christ, as a Vatican cardinal.
The new cast will join Law and his co-star, Diane Keaton, who plays an American nun named Sister Mary. Production on the eight-episode series, which is a joint production between HBO, Sky, and Canal Plus, began last week.