Super Channel, Canada’s only national English pay-television network, is pleased to bring to viewers the exclusive Canadian premieres of two of STARZ’ most anticipated Original Series, beginning Friday, June 14th.
First, the eight-episode action adventure series, Da Vinci’s Demons from David S. Goyer premieres at 9 p.m. ET. This riveting historical fantasy drama follows the ‘untold’ story of the world’s greatest genius, Leonardo da Vinci, during his turbulent youth in Renaissance Florence.
The action then moves to Miami’s Miramar Playa Hotel for the second season premiere of the ten-episode 1950’s drama series, Magic City at 10 p.m. ET, airing day-and-date with the STARZ premiere in the US.
“We are thrilled to be bringing our subscribers another outstanding Original Series from STARZ”, commented Sandy Perkins, Vice President of Programming for Super Channel. “Da Vinci’s Demons has been met with positive audience and press reaction and already greenlit for a second season on STARZ. We can’t wait to introduce our viewers to the fascinating and intriguing world of Leonardo Da Vinci. Together with Magic City, these two series will transport viewers to a different time and place on Friday nights, in only a way that STARZ can do.”
Da Vinci’s Demons
Brilliant and passionate, 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.
Da Vinci’s Demons stars Tom Riley, who has received wide critical acclaim in the UK for his performances in theater, film and on television and was nominated by the Drama Desk Awards for his performance in the 2011 Tony(r) Award nominated play “Arcadia”. Riley’s co-stars include Laura Haddock (The Inbetweeners Movie, Honest, Captain America: The First Avenger) who plays the celebrated beauty, Lucrezia Donati; Elliot Cowan (Marchlands, The Fixer, Lost in Austen) who plays the shrewd de facto ruler of Florence, Lorenzo Medici; Lara Pulver (True Blood, Sherlock, Robin Hood), who plays his wife Clarice Orsini; and Blake Ritson (Serena, Upstairs Downstairs) plays the ruthless and unwavering Count Girolamo Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV.
The series, which is filmed in Swansea, Wales, is created by David S. Goyer and produced by Adjacent Productions. Goyer, who serves as show runner and directed the first two episodes, is co-writer of The Dark Knight Trilogy and screenwriter of the highly anticipated Man of Steel premiering June 2013. Goyer’s additional credits include serving as a script consultant and story developer for “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” and “Black Ops II,” the most successful video game franchise of all time. Julie Gardner is Executive Producer, along with Adjacent Production’s Head, Jane Tranter.
Magic City
The fate of hotelier Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is finally revealed as Magic City returns to Super Channel. This season Ike risks everything in a life and death battle to rid his Miramar Playa Hotel of the mob and Ben “The Butcher” Diamond (2013 Golden Globe(r) nominee Danny Huston). Ike’s dangerous plan to defeat Ben takes Ike from Havana’s glamorous casinos to dealings with a new devil – Ben’s boss in the Chicago Outfit. Ike’s wife Vera (Olga Kurylenko) gets a second chance at her former dancing glory, while sons Stevie (Steven Strait) and Danny (Christian Cooke) drift farther from Ike — Stevie toward the power and rewards of Ben’s dark world, Danny into the moral righteousness of State’s Attorney Jack Klein. Changes in Castro’s Cuba ripple to the shores of Miami Beach, and a new world order begins to tear the Evans family apart. Even if Ike’s long-shot gamble to take back his hotel succeeds, will the price of victory be too high?
Season two will also see the return of Kelly Lynch as Meg Bannock, and Academy Award Nominee James Caan (The Godfather, Misery, Las Vegas) joins the cast as Sy Berman, the head of the Chicago mob and Ben Diamond’s boss. A father figure to Ben, Sy saw the potential in the young con and encouraged Ben’s criminal talents — creating “The Butcher.” Unbeknownst to Ben, Sy also has a secret connection to Ben’s wife Lily (Jessica Marais). Esai Morales (Caprica, La Bamba) also joins the cast as Carlos “El Tiburon” Ruiz, a former rebel who fought beside Castro, a hero to the Cubans and is now working to free Cuba from the man he once considered to be like a brother.
Fred Berner and Colin Callendar join Mitch Glazer and Geyer Kosinski who return as Executive Producers.
Get caught up on all the drama at the Miramar Playa with the Magic City Season 1 Marathon – Saturday, June 8, beginning at 12 p.m. ET.
New Da Vinci’s Demons and Magic City episodes air back-to-back Friday’s beginning at 9 p.m. ET.
