Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Music & Entertainment
‘The New Pope’: Can ‘The Young Pope’s’ Follow-Up Avoid a Sequel Fail?

‘The New Pope’: Can ‘The Young Pope’s’ Follow-Up Avoid a Sequel Fail?

Last updated on: July 2, 2019 at 1:04 pm by Kate O'Hare

‘The New Pope’: Can ‘The Young Pope’s’ Follow-Up Avoid a Sequel Fail? 2019-07-02T13:04:51-08:00 Kate O'Hare

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Jude Law, John Malkovich in ‘The New Pope’/Gianni Fiorito for HBO

To my surprise, I enjoyed The Young Pope on HBO. Dare I hope that its successor, The New Pope, could be as good? The history of sequels argues otherwise, but we shall see … eventually.

To be clear, 2016’s The Young Pope — written and directed by Italian Paolo Sorrentino — was hardly a factually accurate depiction of the papacy (or, in all cases, of the Church). But as a work of imagination, it got a lot right about the mystery, majesty, complexity and power of the Church — and its future.

Jude Law starred as Pope Pius XIII, a brash American with possibly saintly powers who proceeded to wreak havoc in the Vatican hierarchy and elsewhere, in the name of restoring some of what the Church has lost to modernity (you can still watch it on HBO NOW and HBO GO, and HBO On Demand).

After seeing the first five episodes of The Young Pope, I said this (I go into detail about a lot of other things in the piece):

All this being said, The Young Pope is bizarrely entertaining, and it does ask interesting questions. There’s even a moment when the aggressively enigmatic pontiff declares an end to ecumenicism and fuzzy platitudes, and seeking the approval of the world, that might warm the hearts of some traditionalists.

He wants to slam shut the open windows of Vatican II and return to the Church its aura of mystery and wonder.

Sorrentino also seems to understand one of the paradoxes of the Church today — that younger people can wind up being more orthodox and tradition-minded than their Boomer elders. They’ve seen the wages of the misapplication and distortion of Vatican II, and a fair number of them are flocking back to the Tridentine Mass as a result.

…

The Young Pope frequently plays fast and loose with Catholic theology, and Pius XIII is a pontiff that could exist only in a fantasy (thank goodness for that). Nevertheless, I found the series intriguing, weird, sometimes clumsy, often beautiful and occasionally quite moving. In short, it’s been a lot like my experience of coming back to the Church itself.

I never felt like I was wasting my time (and that’s saying something).

If there’s a season two, I’ll check it out.

Well, season two, called The New Pope, is coming, perhaps some time in 2019. Although, it’s not being presented at the upcoming summer edition of the biannual TV Critics Association Press Tour, so that now seems unlikely. Wouldn’t be surprised if they run it in the new year, either beginning or ending around Easter. That’s often how these things go. We have no descriptions yet, but there has been casting news.

The Young Pope ended with a cliffhanger about the fate of Pius XIII, who collapsed during an address. Photos from The New Pope (see above and below) show Law returning in his role, but given the show’s fanciful take on reality, I wouldn’t make assumptions about how or why that happens.

Jude Law in ‘The New Pope’/HBO

We do know that there is a new pope, and he appears to be played by veteran actor John Malkovich, joined in the cast by Sharon Stone and rocker (and sometime actor) Marilyn Manson. Again, it would be wise to assume nothing about their roles.

Sharon Stone and John Malkovich (left), Marilyn Manson (right) in ‘The New Pope’/HBO

Returning cast members include Cecile de France as Vatican marketing executive Sofia; Ludivine Sagnier as the wife of a Swiss Guard; and Silvio Orlando as the politically manipulative Cardinal Voiello. Sorrentino is co-writing the series, co-produced by HBO and Sky Italia, with Umberto Contarello and Stefano Bises; producers are Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani.

Even if the rare faith- or Catholic-themed show starts well, it’s hard — whether because of ignorance, laziness, malice or outside pressures — for Hollywood to maintain it. Season one of The Exorcist on Fox was really good, but it fell apart in season two. Season one of Lucifer on Fox had redeeming elements, but it also fell apart for me in season two. But, Netflix’s Daredevil, despite changing showrunners and writers, maintained its Catholicity and quality through three seasons, so it can be done.

I can’t speak for Sorrentino’s personal spirituality, but it does seem he’s done his homework, so he doesn’t appear ignorant of what the Church is or what she teaches. He may spring off from that on a flight of fancy, but he starts from knowledge.

It’s better to let Sorrentino speak for himself, as he did while discussing The Young Pope with Helen Barrow of Australia’s SBS.com. Here’s an excerpt:

HB: Were you aiming to be critical of the Catholic Church?

PS: That was not my priority. My interest was in breaking the taboos in the portrayal of priests and nuns, in the representation of the clergy in general, because they are always painted as saints or scoundrels. I wanted to paint them for that they are – human beings, strange human beings who have to relate with God, this invisible entity, as well as having a normal life.

HB: They give up their normal lives so that makes them weird.

PS: It’s true, they don’t live normal lives, but we cinema people don’t either. They escape reality because they are scared of it, and they embrace the Church. We escape reality because we didn’t like it, and we embrace filmmaking.

HB: You have not included many topical issues like homosexuality, contraception and abortion (NOTE: Abortion is tackled in an episode. Click here for the video.)

PS: It’s best to avoid them because they can become outdated very soon. I treated paedophilia in one episode, though this Pope is very quick to change his mind from one day to the next.

HB: Were you attracted to the theatricality of the Catholic Church?

PS: Yes indeed. It’s very close to my idea of mise-en-scène (artistic design). The ritual, the theatrical aspect of the Catholic Church is something that I like very much.

HB: The character is a fascinating study of power.

PS: I’m fascinated by psychology. Often if there is a greed for power, what is underneath is a lack of self-confidence and identity problems, because otherwise you cannot explain this mania for controlling everything and for exerting your power over other human beings. It’s a psychological schizophrenic attitude that I think is very interesting to explore. If you have power, you are obliged to be very lonely and that’s another condition that I’m interested in exploring.

He also gave a hint of season two, saying:

HB: Why didn’t you include Opus Dei?

PS: Despite the fact that 10 hours seems a lot of time, the Catholic Church is such a vast issue that we had to leave it out. It will probably be in the second season.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here’s a behind-the-scenes peek of Malkovich filming …

Images: HBO

Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe to all that I write at Authory.com/KateOHare.

And, head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at Family Theater Productions; and check out FTP’s Faith & Family Media Blog, and our YouTube Channel.

About Kate O'Hare

Based in Los Angeles, Kate O'Hare is a recovering entertainment journalist, social-media manager for Catholic production company Family Theater Productions and a screenwriter. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

June 25, 2019

'The Last Whistle': Young Catholic Filmmaker's Football Movie Tackles Tough Topic

Next Post

July 7, 2019 Creativity and Depression: Are Artists, Like Van Gogh, Doomed to Have Mood Disorders?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books breaking news digital media Faith practice food interview jane the virgin media movies music NFL Pope Francis Showbiz 101 social media sports technology television Uncategorized video

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz