Great Caesar's Ghost

Rome returns next week. And I can’t wait. At least we have something to look forward to over at HBO, given the confusion over the fate of the Deadwood movie sequels. For more on that topic, head on over to the bowels of HBO's website where some of Al Swearengen's most passionate fans are not holding back.

As for Rome, if the second season is even half as good as the first it will still be one of the best things on the small screen. Of course, now that Caesar is gone, we won’t have the weekly pleasure of watching Ciaran Hinds, one of our generation’s best actors, sink his chops into the juiciest portrayal of Emperor Julius we’ve ever seen. It was fascinating to watch him slide from noble warrior to power-crazed dictator. Blame it on Cleopatra, I suppose.

Maybe, if we are lucky, the writers will follow Shakespeare’s lead and bring back his ghost for a couple of scenes. If not, we still have guilt-wracked Brutus and studly hunk Antony (Tobias Menzies and James Purefoy) to keep things rolling along in the political arena, while Mommie Dearest Atia (Polly Walker) continues wreaking havoc on the home front.

And, let’s face it: any program that brings us the great Lindsay Duncan as Servilia, one of the original Sisters of Sappho, is a program worth watching.