‘The New Pope’ First Look: Jude Law Is Joined By John Malkovich In The New Version Of The Hit Series

“The Young Pope” was a bit of a surprise when it hit the TV airwaves in 2016. The series, which stars Jude Law as the younger Pope with a bit of a wild side, came from acclaimed filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino and would go on to garner some awards consideration, including a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination for Law. And now, the series is set to return, albeit with a fairly new cast and a new title, “The New Pope.”

So, why the title change? Well, as we can see in the first look picture that HBO released (via Variety) for the series, it appears that Law isn’t the only Pope in the series, with John Malkovich playing some sort of Pope-ish character. No official word yet on the plot of the new series, as it’s being billed not as a sequel, but more as another story set in the universe, a la an anthology series.

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No matter what you call it, “The New Pope” not only features Law returning as his not-so-lovable Pope, but also the returning talents of Sorrentino and his collaborators. The filmmaker helmed all the episodes of the first series, and looks to do the same for this new iteration. And joining him are his frequent writing colleagues, Umberto Contarello, who also served as a co-writer on “The Young Pope,” and with Stefano Bises (“Gomorrah”).

Joining Malkovich and Law in the cast for “The New Pope” are Silvio Orlando, Javier Cámara, Cécile de France, Ludivine Sagnier, Maurizio Lombardi, Henry Goodman, Ulrich Thomsen, Mark Ivanir, and Massimo Ghini

There’s no release date set for “The New Pope,” but we’ll probably hear more about that in the coming weeks, as the series is currently in production.