The Young Pope is an Italian-Spanish-French drama television series created and directed by Paolo Sorrentino for Sky Atlantic, HBO, and Canal+. The series stars Jude Law as the disruptive Pope Pius XIII and Diane Keaton as his confidante Sister Mary, in a Vatican full of intrigues.^[2] It was co-produced by European production companies: Wildside, Haut et Court TV, and Mediapro.

The world premiere of The Young Pope was on 3 September 2016 at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, where the first two episodes were screened out of the competition. It was the first time in the history of the festival that a TV series was a part of the program.^[3] The series premiered on television on 21 October 2016 on Sky Atlantic in Italy.

The Young Pope was originally designed as a miniseries, and it was marketed as such especially in the United States.^[4] However, Wildside producer Lorenzo Mieli announced on 20 October 2016 that a second season of the series was in development.^[5] The project was later revealed to be a follow-up miniseries called The New Pope, with Law returning and joined by John Malkovich,^[6] whose production began in Italy in late 2018.^[7]

On 14 July 2017, The Young Pope received two nominations for the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, becoming the first Italian TV series to be nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards.^[8]

The Young Pope, the first TV series by Paolo Sorrentino, was produced by Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani, together with the French company Haut et Court TV and the Spanish company Mediapro.^[16] The project was financed by Sky, Canal+ and HBO, which contributed 40 million euros, with part of the money coming from the European Regional Development Fund. Production of the first 10 episodes of the first season took three years between 2014 and 2016.^[17][18]

The script was written by Sorrentino, Stefano Rulli, Tony Grisoni and Umberto Contarello.^[19] The cast, announced between July and August 2015, includes Jude Law as the young pope; Diane Keaton as Sister Mary; James Cromwell, Silvio Orlando, Scott Shepherd, Javier Cámara and Toni Bertorelli. It also includes Cécile de France, Ludivine Sagnier, Guy Boyd, Andre Gregory, Sebastian Roché, Marcello Romolo, Ignazio Oliva, Vladimir Bibic, Daniel Vivian and Nadie Kammalaweera.^[2][2] The main character is almost always seen only from the waist up, to give the impression that he might be soaring. Sorrentino said he inherited this technique from Spike Lee.^[21]

Filming of the first season, which took seven months, started in August 2015 and took place mainly in the Cinecittà studios, where the interior of the Vatican was recreated. Exterior shots and garden scenes were taken at a number of villas, primarily Villa Lante (Bagnaia), Villa Medici, and Orto Botanico dell'Università di Roma "La Sapienza", while some interior shots were also taken inside Palazzo Venezia.^[17][18][21] Parts of the last episode were shot in piazza San Marco in Venice.^[22]

The series premiered on 21 October 2016 on Sky Atlantic in Italy, Germany, and Austria, 27 October 2016 on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, 28 October 2016 on HBO in various European countries, and on 15 January 2017 on HBO and HBO Canada in the United States and Canada.^[23][24] It premiered in Australia on SBS Television on 29 April 2017.^[25]

The Young Pope received positive reviews in the UK,^[26][27] Ireland,^[28] and Italy.^[29] Jude Law's performance has garnered praise by Jasper Rees of The Daily Telegraph,^[30] while the Italian weekly Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana objected to "caricature-like characters created to appeal to an American audience".^[11][32][33]

On US review aggregator Metacritic, it has a rating of 68, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[34] The show also currently has a 78 percent positive rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes combining 76 reviews.^[35] Its "Critics Consensus": "The Young Pope 's original premise and stylish blend of over-the-top melodrama with profane comedy helps overcome an occasionally muddled plot."

Some Catholic reviewers were put off by what they perceived as the series' anti-Catholic stance.^[36][37] Such critics took issue with a presentation of the church they found to be caricatural and "cartoonish".^[38] Other reviewers complained about anti-Catholicism in the entertainment industry more broadly.^[39] However, some conservative reviewers praised the show for its portrayal of tradition and authentic religious devotion.^[40][41]

In Italy, the two-hour premiere drew the highest rating ever for the pay TV network Sky.

With 953,000 viewers overnight, it beat the initial release of Gomorrah*]]nd the Italian release of Game of Thrones^[11][42]