Fabel Entertainment frames this as a dream collaboration between 'Oz' creator Tom Fontana and investigative journalist Emanuele Midolo, promising a fearless look at the grey area between sinner and saint.
Insiders are buzzing because Midolo explicitly called the real-life Archbishop Paul Marcinkus a figure who makes the fictional cardinals of 'Conclave' look like innocent schoolboys. If that’s not a dare to Hollywood, I don’t know what is.
The series is based on Midolo’s book 'The Devil’s Business,' set for publication by Century in June 2028. Fabel Entertainment secured the rights, with production handled alongside Picomedia, a Fremantle company.
Tom Fontana is finally bringing the Vatican’s darkest financial secrets to the screen, and if he brings even half the grit of 'Oz,' this is going to be messy.
The man who made us comfortable with prison rape and political corruption in Baltimore is heading to Rome. Tom Fontana, the legendary creator behind the HBO juggernaut 'Oz' and the gritty 'Homicide: Life on the Street,' has officially signed on to create and showrun a new drama series centered on the Vatican’s most controversial financial architect. Fabel Entertainment announced the exclusive deal on October 20, 2026, securing the rights to Emanuele Midolo’s forthcoming novel, 'The Devil’s Business.' This isn’t just another costume drama; it’s a deep dive into the 1980s, an era defined by embezzlement, money laundering, and alleged staged suicides within the highest levels of the Church.
At the heart of the storm is Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, the American clergyman infamously known as 'The Pope’s Bodyguard.' The series will trace Marcinkus’s rise from his humble beginnings as Pope Paul VI’s unofficial protector to his iron-fisted tenure at the helm of the Vatican’s finances. Midolo, an award-winning investigative correspondent for The Sunday Times’ Insight team, paints a portrait of a man who wielded immense power during a time of astonishing scandal.
Marcinkus, who famously quipped, 'You can’t run the Church on Hail Marys,' is depicted as a complex figure living in the grey area between sinner and saint. For Fontana, this project is a decades-long obsession. 'I’ve wanted to tell this story for decades,' Fontana stated, noting that Midolo’s book offers a 'new window' into the man who did the Pope’s dirty work.
The production team is stacking the deck with heavy hitters who know how to handle international intrigue. Fabel Entertainment, led by CEO Henrik Bastin, is leading development, partnering with the Italy-based Picomedia, which is owned by Fremantle. Bastin didn’t mince words about why Fontana was the only choice: 'Tom Fontana was our first and last call.
No showrunner knows the politics of Rome and the Vatican better.' The collaboration feels serendipitous for Midolo, who admitted to being a longstanding 'Oz' fan since he was about 10 years old. He described Marcinkus as a 'larger-than-life figure who makes the fictional cardinals of 'Conclave' look like innocent schoolboys,' a comparison that raises the stakes for anyone expecting a gentle theological exploration. While the book itself isn’t even hitting shelves until June 2028 via Century, the TV adaptation is already in motion, signaling that Hollywood is hungry for high-stakes ecclesiastical drama.
The deal was spearheaded by Raffaella De Angelis, head of literary acquisitions at Fremantle, with Midolo represented by Eugenie Furniss at 42 and Fontana repped by UTA. Roberto Sessa, CEO of Picomedia, emphasized that while Marcinkus was American, the story is deeply rooted in Italian history, raising 'difficult questions' that still resonate today. With Fontana’s track record for unflinching portrayals of institutional decay and Midolo’s investigative pedigree, this series promises to expose the Vatican’s financial sins with the same visceral intensity that 'Oz' brought to maximum security prisons. The receipts are in, and the drama is just beginning.
