Showtime epic The Borgias meets its demise

US premium cable channel Showtime is bringing down the curtain on its epic period drama The Borgias after three seasons.

The Neil Jordan-created show – which stars Jeremy Irons (left) as the manipulative Pope Alexander VI, the head of the influential Renassiance-era Borgias family – will end with the finale of the current season on June 16.

“It has been an honor to work with the great Neil Jordan and the incomparable Jeremy Irons on The Borgais,” said David Nevins, president, entertainment, Showtime Networks. “Neil has written nearly every episode of this series himself. His extraordinary storytelling combined with Jeremy’s fascinating portrayal of the infamous Pope Alexander VI, has made for truly outstanding television that will live on. I look forward to future collaborations.”

“For a variety of reasons we won’t be doing a fourth season, but, The Prince [the final episode], when I wrote it and shot it, did seem like the end of a journey for the family,” added Jordan (The Crying Game).

The show was shot entirely in Budapest as a Canadian, Irish and Hungarian coproduction. The current season averages 2.4 million viewers across the week.