In ‘Mary & George,’ a 17th century royal affair meets contemporary portrayals of sex and social climbing

It’s not every day that a 400-year-old love affair takes the internet by storm. But social media was abuzz with questions about King James I and his dashing companion, George Villiers, when Starz announced the new series “Mary & George,” which features Tony Curran and Nicolas Galitzine as the 17th century monarch and the man he elevated to the top of Jacobean society.

Like the sex-fueled, late-2000s series “The Tudors” before it, the new seven-part period drama from British playwright D.C Moore is heavy on court intrigue, murderous plots and erotic love scenes. Though, even its more salacious elements are inspired by historical accounts, largely pulled from Benjamin Woolley’s 2017 book, “The King’s Assassin,” which details the real-life relations between James I, George and his mother, Mary Villiers (played by Julianne Moore, who is also a co-producer of the new series).

“You couldn’t believe the goings-on of this group of people. Life is truly stranger than fiction sometimes,” Galitzine, who’s been on a meteoric rise since starring in 2023’s “Red, White & Royal Blue,” told NBC News in an interview with Curran ahead of the series’ U.S. premiere on Friday.

Nicholas Galitzine and Tony Curran in “Mary and George.”
Nicholas Galitzine, left, and Tony Curran play lovers in “Mary & George.”Rory Mulvey / Starz
Both Galitzine and his co-star were first introduced to the story of the Villiers duo when they received the script from D.C. Moore’s (no relation to Julianne). Upon diving into Woolley’s book and some of the correspondence between James I and George, the actors said, they both became fascinated by the story of a king in need of companionship and the man who filled his cup.

“I knew a lot about King James (the son of Mary, Queen of Scots) being from Scotland, but there were elements to his character and his monarchy that I didn’t know about, and I didn’t really know about the relationship between the Duke and Duchess of Buckingham,” Curran said, referring to the titles the king eventually bestowed on George and Mary.

“Especially with regards to King James, what I found compelling and quite profound was his loneliness,” he added, mentioning a conversation with Woolley in which the writer described the monarch as “nourished in fear.” “Having his father assassinated, his mother executed — a lot of those traumatic elements of his past as a child definitely infiltrate him in his future. There’s the old adage, ‘Heavy sleeps the head that wears the crown,’ as it were, and I think, with James, it was a big part of that.”