Historical drama Romulus to film in Rome

Historical drama series Romulus starts filming this month in Rome and will shoot for 28 weeks throughout the Lazio region of western Italy.

Set in the eighth century BC, the ten-part drama charts the origins of ancient Rome and will be filmed in archaic Latin.

Two cities have been built as sets for the shoot that will involve thousands of extras and 700 stunt professionals as part of an extensive production team.

The drama is produced for Sky by Cattleya, part of ITV Studios, and Groenlandia, run by Matteo Rovere, who is director and showrunner on the series.

“Romulus is an epic series in the true sense of the word, an international project featuring some of the youngest and outstanding Italian talents,” said Nicola Maccanico, executive vice president of programming for Sky Italia.

“A project that has at its heart what is perhaps the most recognizable brand of our country, Rome, which is once again set to attract worldwide attention with a great story to tell - that of the founding of the Eternal City and its myth.”

Scripted series set in ancient Italy have had mixed results in recent years. Drama Rome was launched by the BBC and HBO in 2005 after a shoot at Italy’s Cinecitta Studios but the cost of production was partly behind the show’s lasting just two seasons.

A TV adaptation of Roman story Spartacus was filmed in New Zealand and spanned four seasons between 2010 and 2013.

Italy is becoming a more prolific filming location, with production often centred around Cinecitta Studios, which is the country’s primary studio facility.

A TV adaptation of Second World War satire Catch-22 was a high-profile recent visitor to Italy, while the new James Bond movie is scheduled to shoot scenes at Matera in the south of the country.

See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in Italy.

Main page image: iStock.com/piola666. Article image: Sky