Though I still wish for more installments to HBO's Rome, Showtime's The Tutors has made an almost-suitable replacement. Missing some of the charm that made Rome one of the best series out there, The Tutors takes a Vanity Fair look at King Henry VIII -- played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers -- who must now deal with Pope Paul III.
Who to play such a character? How about the great Peter O'Toole?
Peter O'Toole Becomes a Tudor
Peter O'Toole has been picked up for a seven-episode arc that will air during the show's second season.
The season two storyline promises to pit O'Toole's pontiff against Jonathan Rhys Meyers' Henry VIII; the historic showdown between the two men.
"Peter O'Toole is the holy grail for The Tudors," Showtime entertainment prexy Robert Greenblatt told Daily Variety via email. "We needed someone of enormous stature to play Pope Paul III, who faced off against Henry VIII in his bid to get his divorce from Katherine of Aragon. Henry's defiance of the pope and his break with the Roman Catholic Church is one of the great turning points in the history of the world."
O'Toole has a bit of experience playing kings in Caligula, Becket and The Lion in Winter.
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