I Medici, Serie TV di Rai 1

Sean Bean will appear in the second season of epic Italy-set period drama “Medici: Masters of Florence.” U.S. showrunner Jon Cassar of “24: Legacy” and “24: Live Another Day” has also come on board the new season.

Cassar will direct and produce four of the eight episodes of the new “Medici,” whose first season starred Dustin Hoffman and was a runaway hit for RAI 1 in Italy, notably with younger viewers. Frank Spotnitz returns and will executive produce the series.

Bean will play poker-faced scheming aristocrat Jacopo Pazzi [/size]in the new run, which will likely be called “Medici: Lorenzo the Magnificent.” It will be co-produced by Italy’s Lux Vide and public broadcaster RAI.

Lux Vide is one of a handful of Italy-based producers coming to international attention with big English-language productions. The second season of “Medici” has a €24 million ($27 million) budget, placing it firmly in the ranks of high-end TV drama.

The show is set in 15th-century Florence and follows the Medici banking dynasty. In the first season, Hoffman played the family patriarch and Richard Madden his son Cosimo. The new series is set 20 years later, with the producers currently in talks with Madden to have him appear in flashback sequences.