"Rome" might not be history, series creator says.

[Spartan198]

I hope this is the right place to put this.

The creator of CBS' red-hot police procedural "The Mentalist" has unfinished business in Italy.

Bruno Heller says he wants to produce a theatrical wrap-up to his critically beloved and prematurely canceled HBO drama "Rome."

"There is talk of doing a movie version," he said. "It's moving along. It's not there until it is there. I would love to round that show off."

The lavish period drama ran for two seasons on HBO, which co-produced the series with the BBC. With the final season of "The Sopranos" as its lead-in, the first season was solidly rated, but high production costs presented the network with a tough call on the pickup. HBO opted for a second season to help get more value from its initial investment but not a third, effectively canceling the show in summer 2006 before the second season debuted the following January. The "Rome" sets were destroyed, and the actors were released from their contracts, making the decision all but irreversible.

Season 2 of "Rome" was a surprise. Although slightly lower-rated than the first, the show did remarkably well without a "Sopranos" lead-in. The first season received four Emmy Awards, and another seven Emmys were heaped upon the final season.

Suddenly "Rome" was a Greek tragedy: a hit show with no future. The broadcast networks quickly snatched up the show's leads for their top fall pilots.

HBO executives have since admitted that axing the show probably was a mistake.

One seeming drawback to revisiting the show after its wrap is the demise of a key lead character, Lucius (Kevin McKidd). Yet Heller reveals that the character's off-camera fate was far from fatal.

"It was very deliberate that we saw him drifting away but didn't see him atop a funeral pyre," Heller said.

McKidd has a recurring role on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy." Fellow "Rome" star Ray Stevenson is in "The Punisher," and Polly Walker is cast in Sci Fi's "Caprica."

A feature revival of a defunct series always is considered difficult, though HBO succeeded with "Sex and the City," and Fox's "Arrested Development" is making progress toward the big screen. Heller would not discuss plot ideas, but the original series outline for "Rome" next called for the hedonistic Roman leaders to deal with the rise of a certain problematic rabbi -- a story line that would have put a whole new spin on the Greatest Story Ever Told and potentially bring "Rome" a larger audience.

"I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end," Heller said. "The second was going to end with the death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around."

http://www.reuters.com/article/enter...4B00VV20081201

[Fragony]

If it presses on it will have to compete with I-Claudius, good luck with that. But I would love to see it anyway.

[Ramses II CP]

Exceptional show. After HBO cancelled this and Deadwood I cancelled HBO. I was disappointed by the end of season two because of how rushed it felt, and how few decent action scenes we got, but after word got out about the cancellation I forgave it. Season one has numerous moments that will forever live in my memory as some of the most entertaining TV I've ever seen.

I'm not 100% convinced that it will work as well in a movie format because it relied so strongly on episode breaks to pass the time between events, but I'd definitely go and see it if they made it.

[Martok]

Ditto. I only got to watch Rome sporadically, but I really enjoyed the episodes I did see. If they make a movie out it, I'll be in line for tickets.

[Quirinus]

I liked the first season a lot better than the second... though admittedly I didn't finish the second season-- gave up after Phillippi, where it was painfully obvious that the battle of legions had less than a hundred participants. It wasn't that that put me off the series, though that was the last straw. It was the excessive, meandering melodrama. Maybe the first season had that too, but at least it followed a thread all the way to the Ides of March. After the assassination the show seemed to have lost its focus.

Though the Season One finale still remains one of the best single episode in a television series I've ever seen-- the assassination of Caesar was properly visceral and tragic, while there's a sort of irony in the catharses of Vorenus and Pullo.

[Spartan198]

If it presses on it will have to compete with I-Claudius, good luck with that. But I would love to see it anyway.

What's I-Claudius?

Exceptional show. After HBO cancelled this and Deadwood I cancelled HBO.

Yeah, same with me. HBO didn't have anything that was really worth watching in terms of television series after that. But if you liked Rome and Deadwood, you might also give the upcoming third season of The Tudors (Showtime) a try. Despite having no real interest in the period before that, I enjoyed the show and took quite a bit more interest in M2TW (which I previously played only sporadically) and its time period.

I liked the first season a lot better than the second... though admittedly I didn't finish the second season-- gave up after Phillippi, where it was painfully obvious that the battle of legions had less than a hundred participants. It wasn't that that put me off the series, though that was the last straw. It was the excessive, meandering melodrama. Maybe the first season had that too, but at least it followed a thread all the way to the Ides of March. After the assassination the show seemed to have lost its focus.

Though the Season One finale still remains one of the best single episode in a television series I've ever seen-- the assassination of Caesar was properly visceral and tragic, while there's a sort of irony in the catharses of Vorenus and Pullo.

I agree, season 1 was definitely better. Season 2 bypassed way too much time, which I hated. Especially when they skipped over the battle of Actium, which I had been looking forward to ever since the end of the first season.
But upon reading the article above and finding out three seasons were condensed into one, I can kind of forgive it.

[Megas Methuselah]

Yeah, the Tudors is good. As for Rome, I have both seasons on dvd and constantly re-live my old joys.

[Spartan198]

As for Rome, I have both seasons on dvd and constantly re-live my old joys.

I'm envious.

[InsaneApache]

What's I-Claudius?

Possibly the best historical drama of all time. Replete with a veritable cornucopia of stars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Claudius_(TV_series)

Well worth a punt.

[Lemur]

Possibly the best historical drama of all time. Replete with a veritable cornucopia of stars.

Yeah, and you might even want to read the novelization.

[Beefy187]

Shame that Rome had to end so fast. There was so much stories to yet to be told

[Peasant Phill]

The series was great and deserved every prize and positive review it got. My only problem with it was the lack of epic battles in it. For example: the rivalry between Pompey and Ceasar is an important drive in the first season but the actual clash between their 2 armies is never shown. I don't believe there's one 'battle' in 'Rome' that features more than 50 men.

[Lemur]

The series was great and deserved every prize and positive review it got. My only problem with it was the lack of epic battles in it.

Yeah, well, the day they can do a convincing simulation of epic battles for cheap, they'll throw them in. As it stands, the costs of sets, costumes and everything else torpedoed the series.

Yeah, I wish they had kept it going. Idjits.

[Fragony]

Possibly the best historical drama of all time. Replete with a veritable cornucopia of stars.

^--- what he said. It really really really is fantastic, you will never forget John Hurt as Caligula, and when you throw in a ' poison is queen' reference everybody who has taste will get it. And don't forget to read the EXCELLENT book. For the sobbing Rome addict, it takes of exactly where the second season of Rome ended

[Conqueror]

It's for the better that more screentime wasn't wasted on combat, seeing how they weren't able to do a good work even on the few scenes that were filmed.

[Pannonian]

I liked the first season a lot better than the second... though admittedly I didn't finish the second season-- gave up after Phillippi, where it was painfully obvious that the battle of legions had less than a hundred participants. It wasn't that that put me off the series, though that was the last straw. It was the excessive, meandering melodrama. Maybe the first season had that too, but at least it followed a thread all the way to the Ides of March. After the assassination the show seemed to have lost its focus.

Though the Season One finale still remains one of the best single episode in a television series I've ever seen-- the assassination of Caesar was properly visceral and tragic, while there's a sort of irony in the catharses of Vorenus and Pullo.

You might want to try Waterloo and the Soviet production of War and Peace, which incidentally shared the same director. Sergei Bondarchuk had 15,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry with which to film Waterloo, while War and Peace was even more lavish, with upward of 100,000 extras.

[Beefy187]

If the rumor that they ran out of cost is true...

I would've volunteered to participate in the battle shoot or something for free if I looked Roman

[Spartan198]

Yeah, well, the day they can do a convincing simulation of epic battles for cheap, they'll throw them in. As it stands, the costs of sets, costumes and everything else torpedoed the series.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Once these film companies can actually afford to give directors the funds to hire 200,000 people to portray opposing armies in an "epic" battle like Plataea or Gaugamela, then I'll start complaining about CG armies...

[a completely inoffensive name]

After reading this, I feel compelled to rent the DVDs.

[Megas Methuselah]

If you enjoy Roman history, ACIN (and not solely the military aspects of it), then you should. It's really entertaining.

I'm envious.

Sucker.