Rome: HBO's Forgotten Epic

When Game of Thrones came out, it changed the television landscape. With its use of giant armies, historical props, and an extremely high budget, it made mainstream the idea that a TV series could be as epic and sweeping as cinema. And since then we've seen other networks try to recreate what HBO did with their own epic series, to varying degrees of success.

However as successful as Game of Thrones was, not many people remember HBO’s first attempt at an epic series: Rome. Created by Brune Heller, John Milius, and William J Macdonald, the series follows famous historical figures like Caesar, Octavian, and Mark Antony as Rome transforms from a Republic into an Empire.

The series was a co-production between HBO and the BBC, and was the most expensive show they had ever produced, even more than Game of Thrones. The high cost of the series ultimately resulted in the show being canceled early, which is why the second season feels very rushed. But the lessons that HBO learned from Rome is the reason why Game of Thrones was even able to be attempted.

But it’s a shame that because of the success of the GoT franchise, Rome lies forgotten like an ancient ruin. Though I wouldn’t necessarily classify it as a masterpiece like the Sopranos or Deadwood, what the series managed to accomplish was truly impressive. Not only was this one of the most authentic presentations of Rome ever created, the series is full of great moments that I still think about to this day.

So let’s take a look at this epic historical drama. A true Roman retrospective, for true Romans.

The series is set in the final days of the Roman republic, as the civil wars that we know from history are kicked off. We open with Caesar’s victory at Alessia, and follow him as he crosses the Rubicon and marches on Rome. You’ll recognize Ciaran Hinds as Caesar if you’ve seen Game of Thrones, and that’s not the only crossover. HBO loves to use actors they’ve worked with in the past.

Alongside Caesar’s story are other famous figures from the time. Caesar’s right hand man Mark Antony, played by James Purefoy, is one of my favorites. There have been many great portrayals of Mark Antony throughout the years. Marlon Brando and Charlton Heston in the Shakespeare adaptations, or Richard Burton in Cleopatra. But without a doubt James Purefoy is my favorite portrayal. He just embodies the drunken swagger of Antony perfectly, and he’s an absolute joy to watch on screen.

Octavian is an interesting situation. He’s originally played by Max Pirkis, who I think does a really good job balancing the precociousness of child Octavian, with hinting at his coldness and the ruthlessness that would lead to him becoming Augutus. Simon Woods portrays the older Octavian in Season 2, and while he does a great job showing the cold, lizardlike side of Octavian, it doesn’t feel quite as balanced for me as his first portrayal does.

Though a male dominated show for the most part, one of the most interesting portrayals is Polly Walker as Atia, the mother of Octavian and Octavia. They actually based Atia not on her historical counterpart, but more on Mark Antony’s actual wife Fulvia. This is why their relationship is such a central point of the series. But even if she’s an amalgam character, she’s one of the most fascinating. Constantly scheming for more social power for her family, her arrogance is really fun to watch play off all the other characters.

However, without a doubt the best part of the show is not the famous historical figures, but instead two low born plebs: Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo.

These two are the real main characters of the show. Vorenus is a strict, humorless soldier, who believes in obedience to the laws and customs of Rome no matter what.

Pullo is a brutish but lovable rogue, not concerning himself with the rules but instead on his own simple desires.

These two could not be more opposite, but their friendship is the heart of the show. Together they Forrest Gump their way through Roman history, affecting everything around them arguably even more than the famous people.

Speaking of which, we should bring up historical accuracy. I’d argue for a television series, they do get a lot right. Things mostly follow the broad strokes of the real history, which is more than many other historical dramas can claim. However when we get into the weeds, a lot of details are not quite right.

Some of this is intentional. Like I said before they are going for a Forrest Gump thing where the quote unquote “real history” that we all know is not quite correct, and that in reality smaller, random occurrences affect things more so than any individual character. They also change some random details, like the assassination of Caesar happening on the Kalends of February instead of the Ides of March.

But while a lot of this can be forgiven as just the usual compromises of storytelling, one thing I really dislike is the portrayal of Cicero. They portray him as this cowardly, effeminate, weakling, instead of the great statesman he really was. While I can see what they were doing when they made changes to Atia or Octavia, I really don’t know what they were thinking with this portrayal of Cicero.

Again I want to emphasize that I don’t expect them to get every single detail of history right. At the end of the day the most important thing is to make an entertaining and engaging show, and they do succeed at that. But if you want a more in depth dive into the history that is still presented as storytelling, might I recommend Historia Civilis. He is one of my all time favorite channels on Youtube, and don’t let the simple graphics fool you. His content is one of the most engaging I’ve ever seen, and I cannot recommend him enough.

However most of the historical inaccuracies can be attributed to the rushed finale season. The series was developed under a two year contract between HBO and the BBC, with a total budget of around $100 million for the first season. The show used the budget to realistically portray Rome, building sets and filming on location in Italy where the real history happened. In addition to using a massive amount of extras and real props and costumes, CGI was also extensively used to recreate Rome, and while we think of CGI as a cheaper way to film stuff nowadays, in the early 2000’s it was extremely expensive to use.

Rome’s first season ended up one of the most expensive productions HBO ever did, costing more than even Game of Thrones' first season did. The series won a lot of awards and garnered HBO a lot of attention, but the high cost meant that both HBO and the BBC were not eager to pour more money into the show for further seasons after the contract expired.

Originally the series was going to be 5 seasons long. The second season would have ended with the death of Brutus, the 3rd and fourth dealt with the conflict between Octavian and Mark Antony, and the final season would have actually been about the rise of the Messiah. However mid way into writing season 2, Bruno Heller learned that the show was going to end, and instead had to fit the entire arc into just one season. This is why the conflict between Antony and Octavian feels so rushed, jumping years at a time between episodes.

It’s so tragic how the series ends. If the show had been given a full run, it might occupy the place in the media that Game of Thrones does today. There’s definitely some resentment that fans of Rome have towards GoT for stealing their show. Both James Purefoy and Kevin McKidd refused to appear on Game of Thrones because of this, which is a shame as they both would have been fantastic.

But whether you love it or hate it, Game of Thrones would never have happened without Rome. The lessons that HBO learned during the production of Rome, allowed them to create shows like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon at a sustainable budget. Rome walked so that other epic series could run, and it deserves appreciation for that.

I hope you guys enjoyed this video, and stay tuned for more content, coming soon!