David S. Goyer’s Starz-BBC co-production re-imagines Tom Riley’s 25-year-old Leonardo as a cocky war-engineer who sketches tanks between bedding mistresses and dodging the Vatican’s assassins. Shot in Welsh forests and Margam Castle dressed as 15th-century Florence, the 28-episode run threads the real codex gaps with occult Keys of Eden, a Pazzi conspiracy and a Turkish prince called Akin Gazi’s Bayezid. Laura Haddock’s Lucrezia Donati double-crosses every side while Blake Ritson’s papal nephew Riario chews scenery in crimson satin. Bear McCreary’s lute-heavy score hides reversed melodies that mirror Leonardo’s notebooks. Three seasons chart the journey from Medici court entertainer to fabled “Architect of Destiny”, finishing with da Vinci sailing toward the unknown Americas in 1492. Budget cuts and a shrinking 46-56-minute slot trimmed the planned five-year arc, so the final episode lands on a cryptic star map rather than the old-age deathbed. The production recycled Swansea’s 265,000-square-foot warehouse into the Vatican, Ottoman tents and a studio backlot that later served BBC’s Atlantis. Annie Symons earned a 2014 Costume Designers Guild nomination for turning scrap leather into wearable anatomical diagrams. Starz cancelled the show after season three, freeing Goyer to develop Constantine for NBC while Riley moved on to playing Ian Fleming in another period fever dream.
Production Details
STARZ / 3 Seasons / 28 Episodes / 2013
Created by: David S. Goyer
Showrunner(s): John Shiban
Writer(s): Marco Ramirez
Producer(s): Jane Tranter, Julie Gardner
Cinematography: Fabian Wagner
Music: Bear McCreary
Main Cast
Tom Riley as Leonardo Da Vinci
Laura Haddock as Lucrezia Donati
Elliot Cowan as Lorenzo Medici
Hera Hilmar as Vanessa Moschella
Gregg Chillin as Zoroaster
Eros Vlahos as Nico
Blake Ritson as Girolamo Riario
Lara Pulver as Clarice Orsini
Akin Gazi as Bayezid
Tom Bateman as Giuliano Medici
Sabrina Bartlett as Sophia
