Jude Law struts his stuff in his underwear while filming in Venice

A few years ago, people rediscovered Jude Law when they became obsessed with the miniseries The Young Pope. Jude Law starred as the erstwhile “young pope” who is basically young (for a pope) and hot (for a pope) and is billed as, like, the James Dean of popes. But in reality, he just had the same kind of old-school conservatism as every other pope. The Young Pope, despite the jokes, ended up being a mediation on power and PR and religion. Anyway, the series ended with (spoiler) the young pope going into a coma. So it’s time for a new miniseries/second season: The New Pope. With John Malkovich taking over the pope-ing and Jude Law’s young pope chilling out in a coma, having vivid dreams about girls in bikinis:

Paolo Sorrentino spoke to Variety ahead of The New Pope’s premiere in Venice, talking about the concept for the second season:

The concept is simple. The basic idea is to latch on to the end of the first season. The pope, played by Jude Law, goes into a coma that, from a scientific standpoint, is considered irreversible and can only end up in death. So the church has to resort to a new pope, who is played by John Malkovich. But since we are in a territory where reason is overtaken by spiritual mysteries and by God, Jude Law’s coma may not be so irreversible. It may have some unexpected novelties, so that two popes can co-exist in the episodes that follow.

[From Variety]

If two popes coexist as popes, is there really a Catholic Church? Who knows. It’s like the 25th amendment, but make it pope. Mostly, I can’t believe John Malkovich gave up his role in Billions for this mess! He was SO GOOD in Billions. He did a terrible Russian accent and helped protect Asia Kate Dillion’s character. I miss him. But now he’s a grizzled pope.

And yes, I just wanted to reuse these photos of Jude in his Papal Speedo.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Jude Law struts his stuff in his underwear while filming in Venice
Jude Law struts his stuff in his underwear while filming in Venice