This cocksure physician’s profession puts him in the frustrating limbo between the upper and lower classes. Serving as Tindaro’s loyal companion, doctor, friend, brother, and sometimes mother, “he thinks quite a lot of himself,” Chadha-Patel told Netflix. Dioneo uses his relationship with Tindaro to gain access to the luxurious life of the noble class that he doesn’t necessarily belong to.

He is also a Genoan man who knows how to play to his peacocking strengths when Tindaro is occupied. “He’s a medieval fuckboy” is how Chadha-Patel puts it. “[He takes] any opportunity to take his clothes off, which is incredibly distressing for me.” 

Originally, Chadha-Patel auditioned to play Tindaro. “I’d just come straight off the back of shooting Willow, where I’d played this gigantic, muscular, sword-wielding barbarian,” he says. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to play a fool. I want to play the hypochondriac misogynist who hates women and is sick all the time!’ ”

But in the casting process, where he also auditioned for Panfilo, Dioneo proved to be a better fit. “The doctor was actually one of the hardest roles to cast,” said casting director Kelly Valentine Hendry. When he did a chemistry read with Douggie McMeekin over Zoom, the moment he opened his mouth and started speaking, Chadha-Patel recalled thinking, “ ‘Oh obviously, this is the perfect Tindaro. What the hell was I thinking?’ ”

Willow, The Wheel of Time, Flashback

Intuitive, wise, and steady, Stratilia is the stalwart backbone of Villa Santa. The cook and servant of the house, she works hard to stay out of the fray and protect her secrets. “She stays quiet while brimming with knowledge about all of them, and how it’s all going to go disastrously wrong,” said Farzad. She considers Stratilia, who’s living in survival mode, to be one of the more intelligent people in the villa. “You watch her evolve into someone with a lot more power than perhaps you had anticipated in the beginning,” she said. 

Jordan wanted Stratilia to be the only character to have an omnipotent view, “because she didn’t aspire to anything anyone had,” she says. Wary of falling victim to her emotions, Stratilia “made the mistake of falling in love [before], and she didn’t want to do that [again],” says Jordan. 

Zosia Mamet, who plays Pampinea, also noted that none of the cast members could speak the native language while filming in Italy except for Farzad.

I Hate Suzie, Better, Black Mirror

God-fearing and highly libidinous, Neifile is a woman of paradoxes. She wants to be “this perfect believer,” but her body is starting to say something else. “She’s suffering. It’s beautiful,” said Gala. 

Neifile arrives at the villa with her husband, Panfilo, who is her anchor. They’re a strong couple, with respect and support in their relationship. “It’s kind of the perfect marriage,” said Gala. The only thing missing is the sensuality component. With a newfound sense of desire burning within her, her time spent at the villa proves deeply transformative.

Hendry finds it charming how Gala “doesn’t know how funny she is,” she said. “And I’m not sure if she’s being funny. I think she’s just being Lou Gala, and her innocence is just perfect.” 

Jordan suggested that Gala watch Goldie Hawn’s performance in Private Benjamin as a comp for Neifile. “She has an otherworldly quality in the way that Goldie Hawn does, where it’s almost like she’s not aware of the kind of power she holds,” says Jordan. “The doe eyes, that sort of naivete, but also the really high-minded physical comedy.”

Julia, Secrets d’histoire

Panfilo is the charming and cunning son of a prominent political family in Florence. He comes to the villa in the hope of securing a future for himself and his wife, Neifile. “He’s spinning a lot of webs, trying to, as best he can, be at the forefront of laying claim to the villa for himself,” said Gill.

His “severely platonic” marriage to Neifile is the elephant in the room of their relationship. “Neifile’s really horny. She’s really thirsty, and Panfilo can’t really provide her that,” said Gill. 

The actor asked Jordan if Neifile had ever pined for Panfilo in a way. But she told Gill, “No, I don’t think that was ever in the cards for these two.” At the heart of their relationship, Gill said, they’re really best friends. “He’s there to cushion her falls at every moment.”

On paper, Hendry sees Panfilo as the sensible one of the bunch. “He feels like the voice of reason amongst the madness,” she said. She actually considers Panfilo one of the hardest parts to play. The character really took shape for her only when Gill “did it the way he did it.”

I May Destroy You, Screw, Ladhood

Sirisco is the affable, ill-prepared, and eager-to-please steward of Villa Santa. “If you think of Downton Abbey, I’m kind of, I guess, like the Carson,” Hale said.

Sirisco owes everything to Leonardo, the master of Villa Santa, who met him at a brothel and brought him home to work for him. Leonardo’s the only one who’s really valued Sirisco as a person. “My character really longs for connection and to be seen, which is pretty much, you know, [what] everybody wants. He will just go to the ends of the earth to get it.” Hale said he has a history of playing characters that are taken advantage of. “It’s my forte,” he said. “If codependency is not [in] the description, I guess I can’t do it.”
 

Even if his character feels a little unappreciated, The Decameron cast definitely looked to Hale as a leader on set. “Tony, [I’m] a big fan of his — Arrested Development was a seminal piece of entertainment that I consumed in my childhood — and then to one day work with him is kind of crazy,” said Gill. “He hasn’t disappointed as the company’s senior. He’s such a generous soul.”
 

Hale particularly appreciates how The Decameron explores how there’s light and dark in all of us. “Life is about that tension,” he says. “When things get really dark, we can see the light even more. Some things show up in us in certain circumstances and some things hide. But I guess having a show that’s honest about that, about how different parts of ourselves come out, that resonates with life. Life is just not that polarized.”

Veep, Arrested Development, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Inside Out 2

The codependent servant of Pampinea, Misia adores her demanding master and derives much self-worth from pleasing her. “She’s literally like a lap dog for Pampinea,” said Jackson. 

The Irish actor imagined a backstory in which Misia came from a family of servants and was the youngest among a massive brood, so she’s used to abuses of power, whether from her boss or siblings. 

Jackson came to the realization with Jordan that when Misia arrives at the villa, she’s “the most pathetic” character with the least self-esteem. But Jackson is quick to add that that doesn’t mean she isn’t strong. She’s extremely dutiful and “at her core, she would really do anything for Pampinea.” 

Even if part of Misia’s journey is to find some self-love and independence, off-screen Jackson felt so lucky to have Mamet as her partner in fine-tuning their painful and funny moments together in the series. “She’s such a fantastic actress. It certainly made me a better actor working with her,” Jackson tells Tudum. “It was a really joyous experience building that with Zosia.”

Derry Girls, Upgraded, The Flash

Soon to be the lady of the villa, Pampinea is full of hope and absolutely lacking in self-awareness. Mamet likens Pampinea’s personality to “if a toddler with a personality disorder had a baby with a crotchety old lady.” 

But Mamet believes Pampinea’s reversion to a childlike, delusional state is a manifestation of her anxiety about being married off. And it only gets worse when she finds out Leonardo is dead, because he was her last shot at happiness. “All the other eligible bachelors have died of the plague,” said Mamet. “She almost can’t encapsulate that reality.”

Even though Pampinea’s relationship with Misia is “so abusive,” working with Jackson is Mamet’s favorite part of the show. “Pampinea’s so awful to her sometimes, but also [she] literally would not be able to function without her. I don’t think that’s hyperbolic, either,” said Mamet.

Mamet considers Pampinea the loudest character, sartorially, that she’s played since Shoshanna on Girls. “Wasn’t it Coco Chanel who said that before you leave the house, you should look in the mirror and take off one thing? Pamps is like, ‘I should look in the mirror, and anything within reach should just go on my body,’ ” said Mamet. And that includes her custom facial appliqués, which include pearls and fabrics from her costumes. “The 12-year-old girl inside of me is just loving this.”

The Flight Attendant, Girls, Madame Web

As a rich noble from a prominent family, Tindaro should be an eligible bachelor, but his pedigree is undermined by his insufferable attitude and blunt disdain for women. “Douggie McMeekin’s comic timing and ability with language is a master class,” said Hendry. “And he goes for it in this show.”

McMeekin doesn’t think Tindaro has had much love in his life. The epitome of unearned power, he says every single thing that’s on his mind. “He’s pretty open about absolutely everything to the point where it’s like, ‘Dude, calm down,’ ” joked McMeekin. 

The biggest challenge for McMeekin was finding the balance between Tindaro’s extremes as a foolish clown character but also a real human being. “Because he’s not foolish, really. He’s just missing a social cog that most people have,” he said. 

While filming in Italy, McMeekin adopted his character’s acute passion for Roman history, even visiting the spot where Brutus assassinated Caesar on the Ides of March. “Tindaro is one of the world’s leading experts in Roman history, which is one of my favorite bits about him.”

Harlots, Chernobyl, The Crown

Filomena is a spoiled oddball with a chip on her shoulder and is the last surviving child of her noble family. When Plummer first read the script for The Decameron, she said she thought, “ ‘Oh, my God. OK, [she’s] bratty, entitled, [and] so much fun!’ ” But in the course of playing her, the actor realized how lonely Filomena really is and that she doesn’t have many friends. “She’s quite sensitive, although she would never admit that to anyone,” Plummer said.

Filomena flees Firenze for her cousin’s home at Villa Santa with her handmaiden, Licisca, and constantly emphasizes to her their noble-servant dynamic. In Licisca, Plummer says, “[Filomena] sees someone that has all the qualities she doesn’t have. Just her strength and her comfort in just being who she is. Filomena’s quite insecure and doesn’t really know who she is.”

Plummer and Tanya Reynolds, who plays Licisca, did a couple of chemistry reads together over Zoom. “I read with a lot of Filomenas, and everyone was brilliant, but Jess was her,” says Reynolds. “It was so obvious, even before she started reading. She just came on Zoom, and she was just so adorable and hilarious.”

In case you were wondering, Plummer actually wears a wig in the series. “So many people were completely shocked when I told them that it wasn’t my hair because they’ve done it so well,” she said.

The Girl Before, EastEnders, The After

An obedient yet unpredictable servant with a heart of bronze, Licisca was born into servitude and has spent her whole life at the bottom of the food chain working for Filomena’s family. While Filomena is cruel to her, Licisca stomachs it, does her job, and has remained devoted to the family she serves — until now. 

“She gets to this place where she becomes incredibly nihilistic,” said Reynolds. “She ends up at this villa, and she’s like, ‘Sod it! I’m gonna have a good time while I still can, because we’re all going to die.’ ”

Casting director Hendry believes that Reynolds “can do anything,” she said. “If Tanya Reynolds doesn’t have the career that Olivia Colman has, I’d be hugely surprised.” In her audition, Reynolds put two flowers up her nose, like characters in the series do to avoid catching the plague. “We just had a bouquet of flowers in the house and there were some tiny little ones, and I just shoved them on in there,” she says. “Gotta do what you gotta do to get the job.”

Half Italian on her father’s side, Reynolds felt like she actually manifested her gig on The Decameron, which was filmed in Rome. Eager to learn the language, “I was thinking about moving and just like stopping working for a bit and going to Rome, getting an Airbnb for a couple of months and just living here,” she said. “Then this job came up, and it couldn’t have been more perfect!”

Sex Education, Emma, Delicious