Da Vinci's Demons is a British-American historical fantasy television drama series created by David S. Goyer about Leonardo da Vinci's fictional early life as an artist, inventor, idealist and a genius intellectual which explores the untold story of da Vinci "inventing" the future at the age of 25, at a time in history when thought and faith are controlled as one man fights to set knowledge free.
Brilliant and passionate, the 25-year-old Leonardo da Vinci is an artist, inventor, swordsman, lover, dreamer and idealist. As a free thinker, with intellect and talents that are almost superhuman, he struggles to live within the confines of his own reality and time.
He begins to not only see the future, but invent it.
The eight-episode drama, produced by Adjacent Productions, follows the 'untold' story of the world's greatest genius, Leonardo da Vinci, during his turbulent youth in Renaissance Florence.
In a world where thought and faith are controlled, one man fights to set knowledge free.
The secret history of Leonardo da Vinci's tantalizing life reveals a portrait of a young man tortured by a gift of superhuman genius. He is a heretic intent on exposing the lies of religion. An insurgent seeking to subvert an elitist society. A bastard son who yearns for legitimacy with his father.
He finds himself in the midst of a storm that has been brewing for centuries. A conflict between truth and lies, religion and reason, past and future. His aspirations are used against him by the opposing forces of the time — luring him into a game of seduction where those who despise his intellect need him most.
Leonardo must take up the fight against foes who use history to suppress the truth. A hero armed only with genius, da Vinci stands alone against the darkness within, and the darkness without.
Facing an uncertain future, his quest for knowledge nearly becomes his undoing as he explores the fringes of his own sanity. Da Vinci throws himself into his genius and emerges as an unstoppable force that lifts an entire era out of darkness and propels it into light.
His story becomes a mirror into our own world, calling us all to join his fight to Free the Future.
Da Vinci's Demons stars Tom Riley, who has received wide critical acclaim in the UK for his performances in theatre, film and on television and was nominated by the Drama Desk Awards for his performance in the 2011 Tony Award nominated Broadway play, Arcadia.
Riley's co-stars include Laura Haddock who plays the celebrated beauty with obscure motives, Lucrezia Donati; Elliot Cowan who plays the shrewd de factor ruler of Florence, Lorenzo Medici; Lara Pulver, who plays his wife Clarice Orsini; and Blake Ritson plays the ruthless and unwavering Count Girolamo Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV.
Da Vinci's Demons is an original series created by David S. Goyer, who wrote the series, served as showrunner and directed the first two episodes. Julie Gardner is Executive Producer, along with Jane Tranter, head of Adjacent Productions.
The series was shot in Swansea ands is produced by Adjacent Productions, a label launched in 2012 that sits within BBC Worldwide Productions and serves to identify new formats created and produced under the company's umbrella.