You probably remember the first time you saw Tom Riley’s Leonardo da Vinci. He wasn’t the bearded, stoic philosopher from the history books. Nope. He was a rockstar. A frantic, brilliant, slightly arrogant young man sprinting through the streets of Renaissance Florence with a sword in one hand and a sketchpad in the other. When Da Vinci's Demons premiered on Starz back in 2013, it felt like a fever dream. It was "historical fantasy," a term that basically gave David S. Goyer—the guy who helped write The Dark Knight—permission to go absolutely wild with the timeline.
Most people didn't know what to make of it. Was it a history lesson? Definitely not. Was it a superhero origin story set in the 15th century? Sorta.
Looking back now, the show occupies a weird, lonely space in prestige TV. It arrived right as Game of Thrones was teaching audiences to love high-budget genre fiction, but it didn't want to be Thrones. It wanted to be a puzzle. It was obsessed with the idea that history is a lie, or at least a very carefully edited version of the truth. If you’ve ever wondered why a show with three seasons, an Emmy for its theme music, and a cult following just... vanished from the mainstream conversation, you aren't alone.
The Beautiful Absurdity of the Da Vinci's Demons Narrative
The show’s premise is built on a "what if" that is actually grounded in a real historical gap. Between the ages of 24 and 26, the real Leonardo da Vinci basically disappeared from the official records. There’s no paper trail. Goyer took that gap and filled it with a secret society called the Sons of Mithras.
Honestly, the show is at its best when it leans into the madness.
One minute Leonardo is designing a literal tank for the Medici family, and the next he’s hunting for the "Book of Leaves," a mystical text that supposedly contains all the knowledge of the universe. It’s a lot. But Tom Riley sells it. He plays Da Vinci with this twitchy, hyper-intelligent energy that makes you believe he’s seeing the world in 4D. The visual effects—especially the way the show illustrates Leo’s thought process by having his sketches come to life on screen—were way ahead of their time.
It wasn't just about the gadgets, though. The political maneuvering between Florence and Rome was genuinely tense. You had the Pazzi conspiracy, the corrupt Papacy under Sixtus IV (played with terrifying calm by James Faulkner), and the internal struggles of the Medici brothers.
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Why the "Historical Fantasy" Label Confused People
We’re used to it now. Shows like The Great or Bridgerton play fast and loose with facts all the time. But in 2013, the Da Vinci's Demons series was trying to bridge a gap that didn't quite exist yet.
- It used real people like Lorenzo de' Medici and Lucrezia Donati.
- It placed them in scenarios involving ancient mystical machinery and hidden continents.
- It mixed hard science (or at least, Renaissance science) with occultism.
Some critics hated it. They thought it was "trashy" or "over-the-top." But they missed the point. The show wasn't trying to be a documentary; it was trying to capture the feeling of the Renaissance—a time when the world was expanding so fast that anything felt possible. If you can build a glider, why couldn't there be a secret map to a hidden world?
The Production Design and That Bear McCreary Score
Can we talk about the music for a second? Bear McCreary is a legend for a reason. He wrote the theme for The Walking Dead and later God of War, but his work on the Da Vinci's Demons series is a masterclass in thematic composition.
The main title theme is a palindrome. It’s a musical mirror. It sounds the same whether you play it forward or backward, which is a direct nod to Leonardo’s famous mirror-writing. It’s these kinds of nerdy, high-effort details that made the show special. The production didn't cut corners. They built massive sets in Bay Studios in Swansea, Wales, turning an old Ford car factory into 15th-century Italy.
The costumes? Incredible. The mechanical props? They actually worked (most of the time).
The Struggle of Season 3 and the Sudden End
Everything changed during the third season. Starz announced it would be the final season before it even aired. This usually spells disaster for a show’s narrative arc. You can tell things had to be rushed. The Turkish invasion of Otranto became the primary focus, and the hunt for the Book of Leaves—the central mystery of the first two seasons—had to be wrapped up in a way that felt a bit abrupt.
There was a shift in tone, too. It got darker. Bloodier. More cynical.
Blake Ritson’s portrayal of Count Girolamo Riario remains one of the most underrated performances in modern television. He started as a one-dimensional villain—a religious zealot in a black leather coat—and ended up as the most complex, tragic figure in the entire series. His redemption arc (if you can even call it that) is a wild ride that deserved more room to breathe.
What Most People Get Wrong About the History
People love to point out the inaccuracies. "Leonardo didn't go to the New World!" "The Pope didn't have a secret twin!"
Well, yeah. Obviously.
But the show actually snuck in a lot of real history that most viewers ignored. The rivalry between Leonardo and Michelangelo (who appears briefly as a young, grumpy student) was very real. Leonardo’s struggle with his own procrastination and his habit of starting twenty projects but finishing none? Totally accurate. His arrest for sodomy? That’s in the court records of Florence.
The show used the "Demons" of the title to represent Leo’s internal struggles as much as the external threats. He was haunted by his mother’s disappearance and his own obsessive mind. That’s the "human" part of the story that actually holds up better than the secret society stuff.
How to Watch It Today (And Why You Should)
If you’re looking to dive into the Da Vinci's Demons series now, it’s a different experience than it was a decade ago. We're in the era of "binge-watching," and this show is built for it. The cliffhangers are brutal.
- Season 1 is the setup: The mystery of the Sons of Mithras and the introduction of the Medici/Pazzi conflict.
- Season 2 is the expansion: Leo travels across the Atlantic, and we get more of the "Indiana Jones" vibes.
- Season 3 is the war: A brutal, high-stakes conclusion that forces everyone to pick a side.
You can usually find it on the Starz app or through various streaming add-ons like Hulu or Amazon Prime.
Honestly, the show is worth it just for the cinematography. It has this rich, amber-soaked look that makes every frame look like an oil painting. Even when the plot gets a little too convoluted for its own good, it’s never boring to look at.
The Legacy of the Show
The Da Vinci's Demons series paved the way for other high-concept historical shows. You can see its DNA in Knightfall, Medici, and even the more fantastical elements of Vikings. It proved that you could take a historical figure and turn them into an action hero without losing the intellectual core of who they were.
It also launched (or boosted) some serious careers. Tom Riley has been consistently great in everything from The Nevers to The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window. Laura Haddock, who played Lucrezia, went on to the Guardians of the Galaxy films and The Recruit.
Actionable Steps for New and Returning Fans
If you're planning a rewatch or checking it out for the first time, here’s how to actually get the most out of the experience:
Pay attention to the background sketches.
Almost every invention Leonardo "dreams up" in the show is based on a real drawing from his actual codices. If you see a weird-looking tank or a multi-barreled cannon, he really drew that in the late 1400s.
Don't skip the intro.
As mentioned, the Bear McCreary score is full of Easter eggs. Listen to the way the tempo shifts as the seasons progress.
Research the Pazzi Conspiracy.
After you finish Season 1, go read the real history of what happened in the Duomo of Florence on April 26, 1478. The show sticks surprisingly close to the brutality of that event, even if it adds some flair for the cameras.
Watch the "behind the scenes" on the inventions.
There are several featurettes available online where the production designers explain how they built Leo's gadgets using period-accurate materials. It makes the "fantasy" feel a lot more grounded.
The Da Vinci's Demons series isn't perfect. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s occasionally confusing. But it’s also incredibly ambitious. It dared to imagine that the smartest man in history lived a life as exciting as the things he imagined. In a world of "safe" TV reboots and predictable procedurals, that’s something worth remembering.
Go find a copy of the first season. Turn the lights down. Let the 15th century look like the future for a few hours. You won't regret it. Luck is a goddess that favors the bold, or at least that's what the show would tell you. And being bold is exactly what made this series a cult classic.