HBO’s Rome, Second Season

The second, and rumored last, season of HBO’s Rome begins on January 14th 2007. WOOHOO!!! I’ve been trying to put bits and pieces together from the clips on the HBO web site, but there isn’t a lot of information.

Octavian does get adopted by Caesar in his will and Pullo puts it straight up, saying “you’ll be wanting revenge then” and volunteering his services. Looks like Vorenus decides to take over the Aventine, but exactly why is unclear. Cleopatra shows back up and it appears like they’re going to skip the whole Antony marries Octavia bit and go right for the Antony and Cleopatra angle. Either way, Atia’s reaction should be a joy to behold.

I did see a file clip related to Phillippi so we get to at least 42 BCE. The affair between Antony and Cleopatra starts around 38 BCE but you can’t tell from the clips what will come first in the show. Let’s keep in mind that the little gold digger Cleopatra has what she can claim is Caesar’s son, Caesarion. The battle of Actium, which would sort of signal the end of the series, occurs in 31 BC.

The first season started around 50 BCE. A number of events including the death of Caesar’s daughter Julia, the battle of Alesia, the surrender of Vercingetorix and crossing of the Rubicon are sort of smudged together in the first two episodes although they took place over a period of five to six years. Caesar crossed the Rubicon (iacta alea est) in January of 49 BCE and was assassinated in 44 BCE so the first season covered something like six or seven years and included events stretched out over ten years. That means taking the second season all the way to the battle of Actium wouldn’t be out of the question. Since this is supposed to be the last season it would make some sense to take it to a convenient conclusion and Actium, plus the aftermath in Egypt with the asp and all that, would be a logical place to end it.