Empire (2005 TV series)
| Empire | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Drama, Historical |
| Written by | Sara B. Cooper Chip Johannessen |
| Directed by |
John Gray Kim Manners |
| Starring |
Santiago Cabrera Vincent Regan Emily Blunt James Frain Jonathan Cake |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Rome, Lazio, Italy |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Storyline Entertainment Touchstone Television |
| Distributor | Buena Vista Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | June 28 – July 26, 2005 |
Empire is an American historical television series for ABC. It is an historical drama set in 44 BC Rome, and covers the struggle of a young Octavius (Santiago Cabrera), the nephew and heir of Julius Caesar, to become the first emperor of Rome. Octavius is helped in his quest by a fictitious gladiator called Tyrannus (Jonathan Cake).
The series, filmed entirely in Rome and South Central Italy, was directed by John Gray and Kim Manners, and was produced by Carrie Henderson and Nick Gillott (episodes 4 and 6). It was written by Sara B. Cooper, Chip Johannessen, Tom Wheeler and William Wheeler.
Camane, a Vestal Virgin, is the only one of her order to see visions of the future. Desperate to avoid the carnage she foresees, Camane sneaks out of the temple to warn Julius Caesar, his cousin Atia and nephew Octavius.
Ignoring Atia and Octavius's pleas to heed the warning, Caesar returns to the Senate, and is murdered by his conspiring fellow senators, who fear his increasing power and popularity amongst the citizens of Rome. In the process, the conspirators lose the support of Mark Antony, who is appalled at their violent treachery.
The assassination is able to happen because Tyrannus, a former gladiator who serves as Caesar's bodyguard, was distracted by the kidnapping of his young son Piso by a group of hired assassins. Tyrannus manages to rescue Piso, but returns to a fatally wounded Caesar; however, Caesar remains alive long enough to tell him that Octavius is his chosen successor and orders Tyrannus to protect him.
Tyrannus sends his wife and son away and then leaves Rome with Octavius to protect him from assassination. Outside Rome they begin to seek allies who are willing to overthrow the senate. To Octavius, Mark Antony appears a willing and eager supporter of his cause and the two quickly become close allies. Antony verbally agrees to join Octavius and even signs a document stating that Octavius has the support of his troops should he die; however, Octavius makes the naïve mistake of offering Antony leadership if he himself should perish. It is after this agreement that Antony's true intentions are made known when he attempts to have Octavius killed. Antony almost succeeds, but the weak and poisoned Octavius is saved by a young Marcus Agrippa. Camane, having seen the danger in her visions, arrives and saves Octavius' life by getting the poison out of him. It is then revealed that Camane has fallen in love with Octavius through her visions.
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