Amadeus, a new series about the famous composer Mozart, takes shape with WandaVision‘s Paul Bettany cast as Antonio Salieri.

THR reports that Will Sharpe will play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the title character, while Bettany will portray the composer who is jealous of his colleague's success.

The Sky original series is based on Peter Shaffer's stage play. Additionally, there is bound to be some influence from the Oscar-winning 1984 film of the same name.

Joe Barton (Giri/Haji, The Lazarus Project) is the writer of the limited series. According to Sky's website description of what's to come, it sounds intriguing.

The synopsis reads: “Deftly reimagined from Peter Shaffer's award-winning stage play, Barton's adaptation of Amadeus expands and interrogates the mythic rivalry, promising a corrupting symphony of jealousy, ambition and genius. Set within the musical hub of bustling Vienna at the end of the 18th century, twenty-five-year-old Amadeus arrives in the city no longer a child and determined to carve his own path. Recently unemployed and without the management of his father, Amadeus finds an unlikely ally in a young singer who will become his wife, fiery Constanze Weber Mozart. Her connections help bring him into the orbit of the court composer Antonio Salieri, setting the three of them on a collision course that will ultimately define their lives and their legacies for years to come.”

As for Bettany, he said about the series, “I can't wait to work with Julian Farino, Joe Barton, Sky, and Will Sharpe, who, for my money, is hands down the most exciting actor of his generation.”

Amadeus film

This series has great potential, considering the movie 1984 Amadaus, which is so memorable today. It starred Tom Hulce as the title character and F. Murray Abraham as Salieri.

The movie goes from past to present, with Salieri telling the story of how he met Mozart and, ultimately, killed him.

Abraham won the Best Actor Oscar for his part, and Hulce was nominated. The movie also won Best Picture, Best Director (Milos Forman), Best Screenplay — Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, and Best Sound. It was also nominated for Best Film Editing and Best Cinematography.

The movie is amazing, but it's not historically accurate. According to The New Yorker, when studying the two composers, “the find made clear what scholars have long known: that the two were more colleagues than rivals and that their relationship was complicated mainly by Mozart's tendency to see plots arrayed against him.”

Though it's a twist on real life, the movie emotionally gets you. It's the beautiful music, the compelling story, and the superb acting that brings it all together. It's clear why it won so many awards.

We'll see what this new Amadeus series brings to the table. If it's compared to the film, it has some big composer shoes to fill.