Atia of the Julii

Atia is Caesar's niece, a Roman noblewoman navigating the capital's shifting alliances with ruthless pragmatism. She schemes for her family's advancement, manipulates lovers and rivals alike, and raises her children amid political currents she intends to master. Charming, sensual, and utterly unsentimental, she treats power as something to be seized through bedroom and dinner table alike.

Polly Walker plays Atia without a flicker of apology, finding real wit and appetite in a woman written as pure appetite for power. The show gives her scenes that could tip into camp, but Walker grounds them with intelligence and menace, making Atia's manipulations feel like survival skill rather than villainy for its own sake.