While Martin Scorsese has continued to put out some of the best films of the decade in his later years, his forays into TV have been a bit of a mixed bag. Boardwalk Empire, which he worked on with Terence Winter, remains one of the best series that HBO has yet to put out, boasting career-best work from the likes of Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt. That's not an easy act to follow but even putting that into account, his second HBO series, Vinyl, was only remarkable in its ambitions. In reality, the series was politically problematic and required intense effort to follow with any kind of dedicated interest or clarity.

Now, Scorsese looks set to return to the small screen once again with The Caesars, which will focus on the "youth and vitality" of early Roman leaders. The series, which does not have a network yet, will see the Silence director teaming with Michael Hirst, who has a long history of working on prestigious period dramas on TV and in film. Hirst is currently best known for History Channel's Vikings but he was also a main writer for Showtime's The Tudors and Starz's Camelot. Cate Blanchett fans will know him best as the writer behind Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, however. which resulted in a BAFTA nomination for the writer.

For Scorsese, the series would offer a rare chance to dig into Italian history, an outspoken passion of the filmmaker, but one has to wonder just when we're going to see any movement on this. Scorsese has a full dance card as of right now, finishing up work on Netflix's The Irishman while preparing an adaptation of David Grann's amazing Killers of the Flower Moon as well as a movie about President Teddy Roosevelt and an unnamed project starring Sharon Stone. And that's all just assuming that nothing else comes around to divert his attentions. Nevertheless, the series, which will open with Julius Caesar's rise to power, is currently set to begin production in Italy in 2019 that would likely mean a 2020 bow for the series, according to The Guardian. In other words, The Caesars might end up being Scorsese's follow-up to The Irishman, making it one of the most promising TV projects currently on the horizon.