British thesp Derek Jacobi has joined the cast of CTV and Showtime’s renaissance drama The Borgias, the broadcasters announced on Thursday.

Jacobi, a well-respected stage and screen actor, will play Cardinal Orsini in the first two episodes, set to debut next year in Canada on CTV and specialty Bravo!. Also coming on board the Canada/European copro are David Oakes (The Pillars of the Earth) and Holliday Grainger (Jane Eyre), who will play members of the Borgia family.

Production gets underway the week of July 26 in Hungary.

Jacobi’s long resume includes feature films such as Gladiator, Henry V, Gosford Park and The Golden Compass, while he has also appeared in stage productions of Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Much Ado About Nothing, the latter for which he won a Tony Award.

Borgias centers on a powerful and corrupt 15th century Italian family, headed by patriarch Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons) who became Pope in 1492. Canuck thesp Colm Feore stars as his arch nemesis Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere.

Exec producers on Borgias are Sheila Hockin and John Weber (The Tudors), Neil Jordan (The End of the Affair) and James Flynn (King Arthur). Showtime commissioned Borgias to replace historical drama Tudors which aired here on CBC for four seasons.