'Tudors' Reign Continues at Showtime

Series renewed for third season, due in 2009

Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Natalie Dormer of 'The Tudors'

April 22, 2008

Henry VIII is only on its second wife in the timeline of "The Tudors," so there's plenty more story left to tell. Showtime agrees.

The pay-cable network has picked up the Golden Globe-nominated show for a third season, it announced Tuesday (April 22). Production is scheduled to begin in June for a 2009 premiere.

"'The Tudors' is now a fixture for us at Showtime, and we're on our way to completing the entire saga of all six wives of Henry VIII," says Robert Greenblatt, head of Showtime Entertainment. "We are enormously proud of this show, the extraordinary cast, and the production team that recreates the grandeur of the Renaissance year in and year out."

The current season of "The Tudors" focuses on the marriage of Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) and the king's split with the Catholic Church, much to the anger of Pope Paul III (Peter O'Toole). Anne was Henry's second wife, meaning there are four to go before the show reaches the end of its tale.

Showtime keeps its ratings close to the vest, but the season two premiere in March drew 768,000 viewers. That was off by about 12 percent from the series premiere last year, but online viewing made up for that shortfall. Showtime says the premiere, which was available online before it aired was streamed more than a million times on its own site and elsewhere.