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A sprawling cast of richly flawed heroes. Epic stakes. Elaborate sets. A family-man hero whose definition of good is skewed by the cruel world he lives in. Animated opening titles with a catchy theme song. Blood, guts, sex and a bit of incest: everything Game of Thrones did, Rome did better.
Rome was one of the most expensive TV shows ever made when it launched in 2005; its two-season run was shot on a massive, immersive outdoor recreation of the ancient city in Italy’s famous Cinecittà studios, and spared no expense on costumes, props or fake blood. When it came out half a decade later, Game of Thrones would follow in Rome’s footsteps with its puzzle wheel of plotting across factions and alliances, shocking betrayals and Shakespearean dialogue punctuated with c-bombs.
Though Thrones had its labyrinthine source material in George RR Martin’s books, and England’s 15th century Wars of the Roses, both shows made their tangled civil wars into compelling TV by grounding them in human decisions and weaknesses. Thrones also hired multiple Rome directors, including Tim Van Patten, who saved Thrones from an early death by almost completely reshooting the show’s disastrous original first episode.
Beginning with the dissolution of the first triumvirate and Julius Caesar’s seizure of power, Rome chronicles an empire at its peak and the people who sought to rule it. Big hitters of history like Julius Caesar (Ciarán Hinds), Mark Antony (James Purefoy), Brutus (Tobias Menzies) and Cleopatra (Lyndsey Marshal) are written as ambitious, power-hungry and unflinchingly flawed characters; Antony is particularly compelling as a brawling hedonist who prefers a political hatchet to Caesar’s scalpel. His other half, Polly Walker’s Attia, schemes and manipulates her way from well-off widow to mother of the Emperor, and has a lot more fun doing it than Cersei Lannister.
But Rome’s greatest strength is something Thrones never had: normal people. In the midst of this historical epic, the show’s main protagonists are a pair of foot soldiers, the taciturn Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and rowdy Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson). After rescuing a spoilt teenaged Augustus (Max Pirkis) in the first episode, Vorenus and Pullo essentially Forrest Gump their way through Roman history. Sometimes they are responsible for the biggest moments in history, but they remain ordinary Romans, the people all those great men claim to represent. Vorenus and Pullo are a fascinating study in modern and historical masculinity, in their constant struggle to settle back into civilian life. Their ride or die friendship is the heart of the show; loyal to one another to a brutal, and often murderous, degree.
The focus on Vorenus and Pullo allows Rome to showcase the everyday life of Romans – how they lived, loved, ate, slept, worked and prayed in a city that feels both alien and deeply familiar. We may no longer rely on augurs to read signs and prophesize coming events, but political graft and phallic graffiti endure.
The cruelty of Roman life hits harder because it is so casual. Vorenus, an otherwise likable and honest man, settles down to start a slave trading business and seriously considers honour-killing his wife’s bastard child. The sexual violence that Thrones was criticised for is also present in Rome, but it is captured with a less leering gaze, and the nudity throughout is far more equal opportunity.
One of the biggest joys of rewatching Rome now is seeing the cast, who have flourished in the past two decades, really sinking their teeth into the scripts. Long before he was Prince Philip in The Crown, Tobias Menzies brought pathos to a politically conflicted Brutus, plotting the death of his father figure (and possible actual father) Caesar. Polly Walker, now best known as Bridgerton’s Lady Featherington, plays Attia as equal parts shrewd political player, catty society maven and Milf. Stevenson, who died in 2023, never quite found another role that let him flex his talents like Titus Pullo, a rambunctious middle finger to “honourable Roman soldier” archetype.
The one thing Game of Thrones had that Rome didn’t was time. Rome was cancelled two seasons into a planned five-series arc, leaving the last few episodes rushed and tying up historical loose ends – although again, Rome’s rushed final season was better than Thrones’. Purefoy later joked that he and McKidd would never accept a role on Thrones because it “stole” their show – but perhaps Rome’s final victory, 20 years later, is that it is still completely rewatchable.
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Rome is available to stream on HBO Max in Australia, the US and UK. It’s also available to rent or buy on Apple TV or YouTube. Find more recommendations of what to stream in Australia here
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