Plot Synopsis

Based on Leonie Frieda's book, "Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France," THE SERPENT QUEEN is an eight-episode drama series that tells the story of Catherine de Medici who, against all odds, became one of the most powerful and longest-serving rulers in French history. Catherine's tale unfolds through flashbacks as she defends her actions and imparts the lessons she's learned to her new servant girl, Rahima. At 14, the young, orphaned Catherine marries into the 16th-century French court. Despite her commoner status, her uncle Pope Clement, has negotiated a large dowry and a geopolitical alliance in return for the union, and with it comes the expectation of many heirs. However, on her wedding night, Catherine learns that her new husband is in love with Diane de Poitiers, a beautiful lady-in-waiting twice his age. With her future suddenly uncertain and with little hope of conceiving, Catherine must quickly learn who she can trust -- both within her personal entourage of courtiers and the members of the royal court -- while outmaneuvering anyone who underestimates her determination to survive at any cost. THE SERPENT QUEEN premiered on Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 8pm ET/PT on Starz. Season 1 episodes include:

"Medici Bitch" (Sunday, September 11, 2022): Queen Catherine begins to tell the story of her life to Rahima, a servant girl, revealing how she came to enter the French Royal Court at the age of 14. Written by: Justin Haythe. Directed by: Stacie Passon.

"To War Rather Than To Bed" (Sunday, September 18, 2022): Young Catherine begins to learn how to outwit the royal household in order to secure her future after the death of her uncle. Written by: Justin Haythe. Directed by: Stacie Passon.

"The Price" (Sunday, September 25, 2022): Prince Henri returns from war with a new mistress, Filippa, and a baby. Catherine resorts to extreme measures to produce an heir. Writers: Justin Haythe & Elizabeth Chakkappan. Director: Stacie Passon.

"A New Era" (Sunday, October 2, 2022): Catherine has become a mother. King Francis suffers a fall from his horse while hunting with Henri and Catherine. Writers: Justin Haythe & Elizabeth Chakkappan. Director: Ingrid Jungermann.

"The First Regency" (Sunday, October 9, 2022): King Henri departs to lead an army to defend France and places Catherine in charge as Regent, allowing her to test her powers further. Catherine asks Rahima to search Mary's room for a letter. Writers: Jessica Brickman & Justin Haythe. Director: Ingrid Jungermann.

"The Last Joust" (Sunday, October 16, 2022): Catherine has a dream that predicts that her husband will be wounded while jousting. Catherine and Henri decide that their son Francis should delay his wedding to Mary. Writers: Dawn M. Kamoche & Ariella Blejer & Justin Haythe. Director: Justin Haythe.

"An Attack on the King" (Sunday, October 23, 2022): Mary visits Rahima and recounts her side of the story of life at the Royal Court. Catherine and Mary have conflicting views when it comes to freedom of religion in France. Writers: Ashley Cardiff & Justin Haythe. Director: Stacie Passon.

"A Queen Is Made" (Sunday, October 30, 2022): The planned kidnapping of King Francis goes awry but Catherine devises a new plan to allow her control of the country. Writer: Justin Haythe. Director: Justin Haythe.

About the characters:

Catherine De Medici (Samantha Morton, Young Catherine: Liv Hill): Born in Florence and orphaned within days of her birth, Catherine de Medici is married into the French court at the age of 14, a union negotiated by her uncle, Pope Clement, to further his own political ambitions. Her nature, from the start, is that of a survivor and a fighter, someone who is unwilling to be marked by her misfortunes. Catherine's arrival at the court - a backstabbing, sexually corrupt, and politically insecure place - is at once the greatest challenge and biggest opportunity of her life. Not only is she derided as plain, common, and infertile, her husband spends his nights with the beautiful - and much older - Diane de Poitiers, a woman with whom he will be obsessed for the rest of his life. When Catherine finally does produce heirs, she is surrounded by duplicitous nobles vying for her childrens' crown and foreign powers plotting against France. Against all odds, she meets every challenge, however, there is a cost to her triumph as the line between survival and amassing power for its own sake becomes dangerously blurred.

Diane De Poiters (Ludivine Sagnier): Catherine's cousin, Diane de Poitiers, is a famous beauty who is well-informed and who can converse easily with her superiors in the French court while keeping those below her in their place. When the young Prince Henri returned to France after being held hostage in a Spanish jail as a child, the widowed Diane assumed a maternal role in his life and became his mentor. However, they eventually become lovers and Henri falls under her spell, securing her position and power within the court. When Henri marries Catherine, Diane assures the young bride that she will take her under her wing, but instead it is the beginning of a lifelong competition for love, power, and security between the two women.

Rahima (Sennia Nanua): Rahima is a young servant girl who is assigned to wait on the widely feared Catherine de Medici. Even though she is abused and taunted by the palace staff, she would prefer such treatment to a meeting with the Queen. Catherine, of course, has selected Rahima for a reason and is intent on showing how a good, God-fearing girl could also be corrupted to commit bad deeds if pushed around enough.

Montmorency (Barry Atsma): Montomency is a soldier, statesmen, and diplomat in the French royal court, a place where everyone is singularly focused on their own survival and status. Montmorency has the distinction of caring about the greater good of the society he serves and consequently he is almost always a step behind the other members of court who find him a hindrance to their scheming.

Mathilde (Kiruna Stamell): Mathilde, a little person, was conscripted as a servant in the monastery where Catherine de Medici was raised. When Catherine is married into the French court, she takes Mathilde with her, and so she owes Catherine her freedom. Mathilde is amoral by nature and therefore Catherine's perfect companion. Once in the French court, Mathilde is promoted to the role of royal fixer but will her loyalty to Catherine ever be enough to guarantee her survival?

Aabis (Amrita Acharia): Aabis is a member of Catherine de Medici's entourage, chosen to travel with her to France when she weds Henri. Aabis is Muslim, a Moor by birth, who was procured and converted by Pope Clement to Christianity after a war with the Ottoman Emperor. Aabis is everything that Catherine is not, with a beauty that regularly invokes the desire of powerful men. At first, she is grateful to be rescued by Catherine from the predatory Pope Clement, however, once in the French court, Aabis earns Catherine's envy and realizes too late that she may have entered into a Faustian bargain of her own.

Ruggieri (Enzo Cilenti): Ruggieri is a magician and soothsayer. When he first meets Catherine de Medici he is performing his gifts on the streets of Florence, alongside peasants and grifters. Catherine invites him to join her entourage to France and he soon becomes her personal guide to the black arts, changing both of their lives forever.

King Francis (Colm Meaney): King Francis is virile, militaristic, and in possession of an easy command of power due to an outsized ego, voracious appetites, and past exploits on the battlefield. Francis's strength, self-belief, and need to bend others to his will, ensure the order as long as he is on the throne. Francis has long possessed a love for the art and culture of the Italian Renaissance and so it is for this reason that Catherine is arranged in marriage to his second son as he recognizes that this union could cement the French claim on certain Italian territories.

Pope Clement (Charles Dance): Catherine's uncle, Pope Clement, was appointed to the papal throne not because of any religious faith but because the Medicis realized that in order to rule well they would have to make a member of their own family the head of the Catholic Church. Clement wields his influence with the houses of the European monarchies primarily to indulge his vices. As Catherine's guardian, he arranges her match with the French prince and thinks little of the false promises he makes, including the offer of a massive dowry, leaving Catherine to face the consequences of his actions.

Prince Henri (Lee Ingleby, Young Prince Henri: Alex Heath): Catherine de Medici marries Prince Henri, the second son of King Francis, when they are both 14 years old. Athletic, handsome, and kind, on the surface Henri is the prince every girl dreams of. However, Henri is traumatized by his childhood as his father had used him and his brother, the Dauphin Francois, as political pawns resulting in their being taken hostage in Spain. By the time they were released and returned to France their mother had passed away. The experience made Henri needy, insecure, and easily influenced by those who would give him the love he wished he had received from his parents.

Mary Queen of Scots (Antonia Clarke): Mary Queen of Scots marries Catherine and Henri's eldest son, Francis II, after being raised in France from a young age as a member of the royal household. Mary is sharp and calculating, and as a devout Catholic and will go to any lengths to preserve Catholicism in Europe. She proves herself to be a worthy opponent of Catherine's many schemes.

Francois Guise & Charles Guise (Raza Jaffrey, Ray Panthaki): Francois and Charles Guise are both members of King Henri's Privy Council, as well as members of his sons' Councils after his death. Charles Guise is consecrated early to the priesthood, while Francois, skilled at battle, will become the next Duke. Both brothers are politically deft, athletically gifted, intelligent, and handsome. They appear to be the greatest threat to Catherine de Medici.

Antoine De Bourbon & Louis De Bourbon (Nicholas Burns, Danny Kirrane): The Bourbon brothers, Antoine and Louis, are both members of King Henri's Privy Council. They are lazy, over-indulged, over-confident in their genealogical superiority, and very happy to have never been tested by any actual leadership responsibilities. Louis is the stronger-willed and smarter Bourbon brother, and he proves more difficult for the court to manipulate and ridicule, however, he is not as intelligent as he thinks himself to be. Antoine, in contrast, is much more motivated by his own comforts and titillations than any power plays. However, despite all appearances, the Bourbon brothers ultimately turn out to be just as lethal as anybody else in the French court.
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The sophomore season of THE SERPENT QUEEN debuts on Friday, July 12, 2024 at 8pm ET/PT on Starz. Catherine de Medici is now Queen Regent of France now that her son, Charles IX has come of age. Distracted by the personal conflicts of the Valois children, a new mysterious prophet named Edith gains a loyal following who vows to challenge the current religious establishment, sparking tension across the country. Feeling threatened by the rising tension, the divided court turned to their own schemes for selfish benefit. The Guises commit unholy acts while the Bourbons turn to a familiar foreign sovereign, Queen Elizabeth I of England in hopes of personal gain. As France falls into political and religious turmoil, Catherine de Medici struggles to maintain her power, but The Serpent Queen will do whatever she needs to regain control. Season 2 episodes include:

"Grand Tour" (Friday, July 12, 2024): Catherine aims to unite France under King Charles IX, pushing her agenda of a secular state; the Bourbons present an ambitious trade deal with Protestant England; as tensions rise on the Privy Council, the Guise's plan to reignite religious conflict.

"Second Coming" (Friday, July 19, 2024): With peace lying on a knife's edge, Catherine attempts to calm tensions by allowing the Bourbons to pursue the trade deal with England, and she halts the investigation into the Duke of Guise's arson involvement.

"Death of a Prince" (Friday, July 26, 2024): News of Edith's miracle spreads throughout Europe; the Bourbon's leverage an opportunity for England to exploit France; Catherine must return urgently to France when Anjou's temper causes damage.

"Judas" (Friday, August 2, 2024): Charles is ready to make his own rules, rejecting his mother's influence; with a rebellion on the rise, a mysterious plan is set, but when loyalty can be so easily swayed...miracles can happen.

"Time with the Family" (Friday, August 9, 2024): Catherine relinquishes her seat on the Privy Council, but not before securing a place for Anjou; a religious war is on the horizon as Queen Elizabeth lands in the Netherlands; France's saving grace may be a marriage.

"Courting the Valois" (Friday, August 16, 2024): Queen Elizabeth's arrival sparks manipulation and intrigue within the Valois Court; a dramatic fencing match for the Queen's affections ends in a shocking revelation, leaving the Court in turmoil.

"A House Divided" (Friday, August 23, 2024): Tensions escalate as Edith and her followers wield newfound power while Catherine grapples with political manipulations and betrayals; as Queen Elizabeth's schemes unravel, Catherine must strategize to secure power and navigate a web of deceit.

"All Saints Day" (Friday, August 30, 2024): Catherine's actions lead to chaos and bloodshed, leaving a trail of devastation in their wake; Catherine's desperate measures may prevent total war, or they could unleash forces beyond her control.