So, you’re watching a bunch of 14th-century nobles lose their minds in a villa while the Black Death rages outside, and you keep pointing at the screen. "Wait, is that the guy from the juice box meme?" Yes. Yes, it is. The The Decameron TV series cast is one of those ensembles where Netflix basically raided the "Best Supporting Actor" bin of every cult favorite show from the last decade and threw them into a medieval blender.
It’s messy. It’s loud. It’s honestly a little gross. But the cast makes it work.
If you’ve seen the show, you know it’s not exactly a faithful adaptation of Boccaccio’s classic. It’s more like The White Lotus met Monty Python and they decided to have a panic attack together. The showrunners leaned hard into the "eat the rich" trope, but they did it with actors who know exactly how to play "entitled but also deeply pathetic."
The Masterclass in Neurosis: Tony Hale as Sirisco
Tony Hale is the backbone here. If you know him as Buster Bluth from Arrested Development or Gary from Veep, you already know his brand. He plays Sirisco, the steward of Villa Santa. He’s the guy trying to keep the wine flowing and the floors clean while the world literally rots.
Hale is the king of the "silent internal scream." You can see it in his eyes every time a noble asks for something impossible. He’s loyal to a fault, but as the season progresses, you watch that loyalty curdle into something a lot more desperate. It’s a performance that reminds you why he has all those Emmys. He’s not just the funny servant; he’s the personification of "middle management during the apocalypse."
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The Toxic Duo: Zosia Mamet and Saoirse-Monica Jackson
If you want to talk about the The Decameron TV series cast members who truly understood the assignment, it’s these two. Zosia Mamet (Shoshanna from Girls) plays Pampinea. She is, quite frankly, a nightmare. She’s a noblewoman who thinks she’s 28 and "over the hill," desperate to marry a man she’s never met just to secure a roof over her head.
Mamet plays her with this grating, high-pitched entitlement that makes you want to shove her into a well, which is exactly the point.
Then there’s Saoirse-Monica Jackson. If you’ve seen Derry Girls, you know she has the most expressive face in modern television. Here, she plays Misia, Pampinea’s long-suffering handmaiden. Their relationship is basically a case study in Stockholm Syndrome. Misia is mourning a lost lover while Pampinea is demanding she fetch a snack. The way Jackson balances that grief with a weird, cult-like devotion to her mistress is the secret sauce of the show's darker half.
A Physician with a Grift: Amar Chadha-Patel
Amar Chadha-Patel plays Dioneo, and he brings a much-needed "cool guy" energy that is immediately revealed to be a total sham. He’s a physician, but mostly he’s just a guy who knows how to talk his way into expensive rooms.
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He’s the escort/doctor for Tindaro, played by Douggie McMeekin.
Tindaro is... a lot.
He’s a hypochondriac noble who is convinced he’s dying of everything except the plague. The chemistry between Chadha-Patel’s suave opportunism and McMeekin’s bumbling insecurity is some of the best character work in the series.
The Servants Stealing the Spotlight
While the nobles are busy arguing about who gets the biggest bedroom, the "downstairs" cast is actually doing the heavy lifting.
- Tanya Reynolds (Licisca): You know her from Sex Education. She plays a servant who gets a taste of the high life through a freak accident and decides, "Yeah, I’m keeping this." She’s cynical, tired, and deeply relatable.
- Jessica Plummer (Filomena): She plays the "spoiled brat" archetype but gives it a weird, jagged edge. Her dynamic with Licisca is the heart of the show’s class-warfare theme.
- Leila Farzad (Stratilia): The villa’s cook. She’s the only one who actually knows what’s going on. She’s the "straight man" in a house full of clowns.
Why This Cast Works for a 2024 Audience
The thing about The Decameron TV series cast is that they aren't trying to act "medieval." They talk like us. They have the same anxieties we do—just with more fleas and less penicillin.
Director Kathleen Jordan clearly wanted a cast that could handle the tonal whiplash. One minute, someone is getting their head chopped off; the next, Tony Hale is making a joke about a charcuterie board. It’s a hard line to walk. If the actors played it too straight, it would be boring. If they played it too broad, it would be a cartoon.
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Instead, they find this gross, sweaty middle ground. They look like they haven't showered in weeks (because they haven't). They look terrified (because they are).
Who Else Is In It?
You’ll also spot Karan Gill as Panfilo and Lou Gala as Neifile. They play a married couple who are... complicated. Panfilo is a social climber who prefers the company of men, while Neifile is a religious zealot who is struggling with some very non-religious urges. It’s a "lavender marriage" wrapped in 14th-century velvet.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans of the Show
If you’ve finished the series and want more from this specific group of actors, here is where you should head next:
- For the Tony Hale itch: Go back and watch Veep. His character, Gary Walsh, is essentially Sirisco if the villa was the White House and the plague was a political scandal.
- For Zosia Mamet fans: The Flight Attendant on Max shows off her range much better than Girls ever did. She’s the grounded one there, which is a wild contrast to Pampinea.
- For the Tanya Reynolds fix: Sex Education is the obvious choice, but she’s also fantastic in the 2020 film Emma.
- Keep an eye on Amar Chadha-Patel: He was a breakout in the Willow series, and he’s increasingly becoming a face to watch in big-budget genre stuff.
Basically, the The Decameron TV series cast is a "who's who" of character actors who finally got to be the leads. It’s chaotic, it’s often disgusting, but it’s never boring. If you haven't watched yet, go in expecting a riot, not a history lesson.
Next Steps:
If you're looking for your next binge, check out the filmography of showrunner Kathleen Jordan—specifically Teenage Bounty Hunters. It has that same razor-sharp, slightly mean-spirited wit that makes The Decameron so addictive. Check your Netflix "More Like This" section, but honestly, just following these specific actors into their other projects is a better bet for quality.