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From the moment Leonardo da Vinci introduced himself to another character with the words, “I’m Leonardo, from Vinci,” on the CW’s bonkers new drama, the writing was on the wall. “Yes,” I murmured aloud as my dogs looked on nervously. “Ha ha ha… YES!” As silly as Leonardo would inevitably be, I knew that I’d found my new obsession.
On paper, Leonardo is a deeply strange prospect—both for the CW and, really, as a show in general. Part biopic and part seedy mystery, this drama recruits Poldark’s Aidan Turner to play a sexy Renaissance artist on the edge. Hot da Vinci, we quickly learn, is a great genius whose talent, as one character solemnly tells us, “is forged by pain.” But when we meet him here, something is amiss. He’s also… being investigated for the murder of his muse?!
If all of this sounds a little out of character for the CW—a network primarily dominated by the Arrow– and Archie-verses—there’s a good reason for that. Leonardo is not an original for the network; it debuted last year in countries including Italy, The United Kingdom, Spain, and India. At the same time, given that we just found out the CW is a network for 58-year-old teens, there is some kismet to its choice to house this steamy historical fiction.