Romulus
Genre	Historical drama Adventure
Created by	Matteo Rovere
Inspired by	Founding of Rome
Written by	Filippo Gravino Guido Iuculano Flaminia Gressi Federico Gnesini
Directed by	Matteo Rovere Michele Alhaique Enrico Maria Artale Francesca Mazzoleni
Starring	Andrea Arcangeli Francesco Di Napoli Marianna Fontana Sergio Romano Ivana Lotito Vanessa Scalera Valentina Bellè Emanuele Di Stefano Max Malatesta Massimo Foschi
Composers	Mokadelic Andrea Farri
Country of origin	Italy
Original language	Old Latin
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	18
Production
Producers	Giovanni Stabilini Marco Chimenz Francesca Longardi Riccardo Tozzi Matteo Rovere
Cinematography	Vladan Radovic Giuseppe Maio Francesco Scazzosi
Editors	Valeria Sapienza Marcello Saurino Gianni Vezzosi Francesco Loffredo
Running time	44–63 minutes
Production companies	Cattleya Groenlandia Sky Studios ITV Studios
Original release
Network	Sky Italia
Release	November 6, 2020 (2020-11-06) – present

Romulus, graphically rendered as ROMVLVS, is an Italian historical drama television series created by Matteo Rovere about the founding of Rome. The show is notable for using archaic Latin instead of Italian.^[1]

Produced by Sky Italia, Cattleya, and Groenlandia, two episodes of the series premiered at the 2020 Rome Film Festival.^[2] The series was first broadcast in Italy on Sky Atlantic on 6 November 2020. In April 2021 it was renewed for a second season.^[3] The series was sold in over 40 countries.^[3]

Cast

Main

• Andrea Arcangeli as Yemos (seasons 1-2) Prince of Alba Longa and Enitos' twin brother
• Francesco Di Napoli [it] as Wiros (seasons 1-2) Slave from Velia participating to the Lupercalia.
• Marianna Fontana as Ilia (seasons 1-2) Amulius' daughter and Vestal priestess.
• Sergio Romano [it] as Amulius / Servios (seasons 1-2) King Numitor's younger brother, later known as Servios.
• Ivana Lotito [it] as Gala (season 1) Amulius' wife and Ilia's mother.
• Vanessa Scalera [it] as Silvia (seasons 1-2) King Numitor's daughter and Yemos and Enitos' mother.
• Valentina Bellè as Hersilia (season 2) Leader of the Sabine priestesses.
• Emanuele Di Stefano as Titus Tatius (season 2) Sancus' son and King of the Sabines.
• Max Malatesta as Sabos (season 2) Titus' advisor and commander of his army.
• Massimo Foschi as Aranth (season 2) Old Etruscan in the Land of Tuscia who heals Yemos.

Recurrent

• Giovanni Buselli [it] as Enitos (season 1) Silvia's son and Yemos' twin brother.
• Massimiliano Rossi [it] as Spurius (season 1) King of Velia and Amulius' ally.
• Corrado Invernizzi as Eulinos (season 1) The Greek merchant hosting Numitor and Silvia.
• Yorgo Voyagis as Numitor (seasons 1-2) King of Alba Longa, Silvia's father and Yemos and Enitos' grandfather.
• Gabriel Montesi [it] as Cnaeus (season 1) Slave from Velia and king of the Luperci.
• Emilio De Marchi as Ertas (season 1) King of Gabii and Lausus' father.
• Marlon Joubert as Lausus (seasons 1-2) Ertas' son.
• Silvia Calderoni [it] as she-Wolf (seasons 1-2) Leader of the Ruminales.
• Demetra Avincola as Deftri (stagioni 1-2) Young warrior of the Ruminales, attracted to Wiros.
• Francesco Santagada as Maccus (seasons 1-2) Last survivor of the Luperci besides Yemos and Wiros. later advisor and lieutenant of the kings together with Herenneis.
• Piergiuseppe di Tanno as Herenneis (seasons 1-2) Warrior of the Ruminales, later advisor and lieutenant of the kings together with Maccus.
• Anna Chiara Colombo as Tarinkri (seasons 1-2) Warrior of the Ruminales.
• Valerio Malorni as Adieis (seasons 1-2) Warrior and healer of the Ruminales.
• Pietro Micci as Attus (seasons 1-2) Priest of Mars and warrior who trains Ilia to fighting.
• Ludovica Nasti as Vibia (season 2) The youngest among the Sabine priestesses.
• Giancarlo Commare as Atys (season 2) King of Satricum.

Production

The first season of the series was greenlighted in 2019 and it was shot in 28 weeks in Rome.^[4] It was originally shot in Old Latin.^[4]

Reception

The series won the 2021 Nastro d'Argento for best Italian TV series.^[5]

Other media

Starting from October 29, 2020, a trilogy of novels that expands the narrative universe, an unpublished cross-media project for Italy, has been published by HarperCollins. Written by Luca Azzolini [it], the volumes are titled Romulus: Book I – The Blood of the Wolf (29 October 2020), Romulus: Book II – The Queen of Battles (November 2020) and Romulus: Book III – The City of Wolves (January 2021).^[6][7]