Based on a notorious real-life family of the Italian Renaissance, The Borgias charts the rise of ambitious patriarch Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons), a cunning Spanish-born cardinal who seizes power for himself -- and his children -- when he's elected to the papacy in 1492. With dutiful sons Cesare (François Arnaud) and Juan (David Oakes) standing at the ready and a pair of mistresses (Joanne Whalley and Lotte Verbeek) to please, Rodrigo turns his attention to marrying off his younger children, Lurezia (Holliday Grainger) and Joffre (Aidan Alexander), and securing the family's political fortunes.