The STARZ‘s upcoming period drama Mary & George is inspired by the true story of Mary Villiers (Julianne Moore), who moulded her son, George (Nicholas Galitzine), to seduce King James I (Tony Curran) and become his all-powerful lover. Mary & George were two of the original power-hungry scammers.
Through their scheming, they go from being a humble family to become one of the richest and influential players in the English court as the King’s most trusted advisors.
In the seven-part limited series, Galitzine and Curran go through quite a journey when it comes to their relationship as George and James. What starts off as a relationship that is very physically hot, heavy and steamy, evolves into a different kind of unexpected romance.
“It’s an incredible insight into who George is as a person, and how this young man was able to climb to the immense heights that he did during during this era, where that was not such a done thing, necessarily,” Galitzine told GLAAD’s Anthony Allen Ramos in a recent interview. “There are certain scenes with with James that are incredibly tender and loving and show that there was a true care for one another… but there are scenes which are very dominating and very Machiavellian in nature.”
He continued, “I think all of our scenes in the show, that are of intimate nature, really tell the story into into these characters and who they are in their most intimate moments.”
“To reiterate what Nick said, it’s so multifaceted,” Curran added. “It’s such a incredibly compelling journey that George Villiers takes from being this very uninformed green, naive, young fellow, to the… sexually confident, ambitious young man, ultimately.”
“It’s interesting, because there’s that wonderful line ‘bodies are just bodies’ which is true but it’s also the connection that those bodies make when there’s that sort of the sexual nature — the lascivious nature… with George and James, I think it did become more than that. They became friends, there was a respect for each other.” Curran pointed out although they had a respectful relationship, it was still destructive to both of them as individuals.
Mary & George is written by and created by D.C. Moore (Killing Eve, Temple), inspired by Benjamin Woolley’s nonfiction book “The King’s Assassin”. The ensemble cast also includes Nicola Walker, Niamh Algar, Trine Dyrholm, Sean Gilder, Adrian Rawlins, Mark O’Halloran, Laurie Davidson, Samuel Blenkin, Jacob McCarthy, Tom Victor, Alice Grant, Amelia Gething, Mirren Mack, Rina Mahoney, and Simon Russell Beale.
Mary & George debuts April 5 on STARZ.