85 minSeason 1 • Episode 2
LatestAfter the death of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra needed a new political ally in Rome. With her life, her son's life, and the fate of Egypt hanging in the balance, she set her sights on the new co-ruler of the Roman Empire: Mark Antony. Their romance would become the ancient world's greatest love story and darkest tragedy. See how their relationship grew from a calculated political move to a passionate affair before devolving into a catastrophic tale of betrayal, murder, and suicide.
Cleopatra, the famed Egyptian Queen born in 69 B.C., is shown to have been brought by Roman ruler Julius Caesar at age 18. Caesar becomes sexually obsessed by the 18 year old queen, beds her, and eventually has a son by her. However, his Roman followers and his wife are not pleased by the union. In fact, as Caesar has only a daughter by his wife, he had picked Octavian as his successor.
Costume
Varela's endless wardrobe of 'historical' gowns that defy gravity and archaeology.
Acting
Dalton's Caesar: dignified, doomed, and somehow always sweating.
Leonor Varela
Cleopatra
Billy Zane
Marc Antony
Timothy Dalton
Julius Caesar
Rupert Graves
Octavian
John Bowe
Rufio
Owen Teale
Grattius
Sean Pertwee
Marcus Brutus
David Schofield
Casca
Ralph Brown
Guevarius
James Cosmo
Agrippa
Nadim Sawalha
Mardian
Elisabeth Dermot Walsh
Octavia
Ace Bhatti
Sceptical Citizen
Richard Armitage
Epiphanes
Art Malik
Olympos
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This ABC/Hallmark co-production was greenlit to capitalize on the 1999 'year of Cleopatra'—competing directly with the Discovery Channel's documentary and beating the infamous Jolie biopic that never happened.
Leonor Varela, a Chilean-French actress, was cast after a global search, yet the production still couldn't resist framing Cleopatra through a lens of exotic seduction rather than political genius—revealing more about 90s TV than ancient Egypt.
US
