Set 20 years after the events of season 1, Medici: The Magnificent is back to follow the bitter and infamous feud between rival banking dynasties in medieval Italy, revisiting one of history’s most thrilling conspiracies. Two complete seasons are ready to binge right now at SBS On Demand.
Fans of the show will recall that season one focussed on the great lords of Florence, specifically family patriarch, Giovanni De Medici (Dustin Hoffman) and the shadow his legacy casts upon his son and designated heir, Cosimo (played by Richard Madden).
The new season takes the drama forward a couple of generations, to focus on an infamous plot that threatens the life of Cosimo’s grandson, Lorenzo (Daniel Sharman).
We witness the machinations of a scheming aristocrat, Jacopo Pazzi, played by Game of Thrones’ own Sean Bean, who sets off a notorious chain of events in Florence’s history. Bean’s casting in the new season of Medici furthers his career connection to intriguing sagas of back-stabbing and bed-hopping by ruling dynasties in days of yore.
It’s 1470 and Piero and Lucrezia are the heads of the family. The Medici family’s power has now been consolidated over time, but an attempt on Piero’s life reveals years of poor bank management and his first-born son Lorenzo is called to take his father’s place sooner than planned. As the new head of the family, he is also responsible for the destinies of his brother Giuliano and his sister Bianca, while his friendship with Sandro Botticelli gives life to some of the finest masterpieces of the Renaissance. His dream for Florence to be at peace and culturally alive is challenged by the contrast with Pope Sixtus and bring Florence to one of the bloodiest moments of its history - the Pazzo conspiracy.
Seasons 1 and 2 of 'Medici The Magnificent' are now streaming at SBS On Demand
