EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of Shonda Rhimes-produced steamy Regency romance Bridgerton, Netflix is betting on another soapy period drama produced by a top showrunner from its roster of overall deals, Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan.
The streamer has given an eight-episode series order to The Decameron, from Kathleen Jordan, creator of Netflix’s Teenage Bounty Hunters, and Kohan who executive produced the teen drama alongside her.Created by Jordan, who serves as showrunner, The Decameron is set in 1348 when the Black Death, the deadliest pandemic in human history which killed as many as 200 million people, strikes hard in the city of Florence.
A handful of nobles are invited to retreat with their servants to a grand villa in the Italian countryside and wait out the pestilence with a lavish holiday.
But as social rules wear thin, what starts as a wine-soaked sex romp in the hills of Tuscany descends into an all out scramble for survival.The series examines the timely themes of class systems, power struggles and survival in a time of pandemic with a touch of levity, brought together by a charming and riotous ensemble of characters.It is loosely inspired by The Decameron, the famous collection of witty, racy and sometimes tragic short stories about love by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio.
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