Patrick Stewart’s 12-Part Historical Drama Delivers A Masterclass In Political Storytelling

Published Nov 11, 2026, 1:00 AM EST

Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020.

While the late Patrick Stewart might be best known for his contributions to the Star Trek franchise, the star also played a pivotal role in one of the greatest TV miniseries of all time. It is always hard to argue over what constitutes one of the best TV shows ever, especially when long-running shows like The Simpsons have over 800 episodes to their name while other classic series have the misfortune of being canceled before their time.

For some TV fans, the influential space Western Firefly deserves a spot on the greatest of all time list. For others, the only reason the show ranks ahead of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or SyFy’s similar space opera Killjoys is precisely because Firefly was canceled before the series had a chance to release a bad episode, with a mere 14 outings to its name.

In this regard, the inherently self-contained nature of the miniseries makes these shows slightly easier to rank when it comes to historical acclaim. From the World War II epic Band of Brothers to 2019’s gripping disaster story Chernobyl, to 1981’s Brideshead Revisited and even the animated fantasy masterpiece Over the Garden Wall, the miniseries format allows creators to tell a perfect standalone story without worrying about renewals, spinoffs, or sequels. This is part of what makes Patrick Stewart’s I, Claudius a uniquely influential piece of TV history.

I, Claudius Is One Of Patrick Stewart’s Great TV Masterpieces

Released in 1976, I, Claudius was based on the Robert Graves novel of the same name from 1934 and created by Bel Ami’s Martin Lisemore, Joan Sullivan, Herbert Wise, and Jack Pulman. Set during the early history of the Roman Empire, I, Claudius retells the rise and fall of Derek Jacobi’s titular doomed Roman Emperor. Screen legend Siân Phillips plays Emperor Augustus’s scheming wife Livia, who uses all manner of deceit to get her son Tiberius into the line of succession.

Although this plot succeeds, it is not long before Tiberius is supplanted by Sejanus, who, in turn, ends up preceding the infamously hedonistic Caligula, before Claudius finally ascends to the throne. While the title of I, Claudius might call to mind stuffy, staid costume dramas for some readers, the show’s dizzying array of double-crosses, poisonings, assassinations, and politically motivated murders could give HBO’s dark fantasy Game of Thrones a run for its money.

It is midway through this story that a young Stewart threatens to walk off with the entire series in his standout role as Sejanus, the determined Praetorian prefect who comes to replace Tiberius at the end of his reign. One of few characters who can go toe-to-toe with Livia in terms of sheer wit and ambition, Sejanus elevates the Praetorian Guard from a simple royal bodyguard into an entire political faction that ends up essentially running Tiberius’s Rome.

Patrick Stewart Plays A Machiavellian Police Chief In I, Claudius

Long before he ever appeared in a Star Trek series, Stewart displayed the command of the screen that would later make Picard unforgettable in his role as Sejanus. The star also displayed more than a little of the malevolent edge that he would bring to later roles both comedic and serious, with the almost-unstoppable Sejanus mirroring both the amorality of American Dad’s Captain Bullock and the steely resolve of Green Room’s chilling villain Darcy.

If his appearances in everything from the Ted movies to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind didn’t already make it clear, Stewart was a star with a diverse range and the ability to disappear into a huge array of roles. I, Claudius was not only an early sign of his potential as a small screen standout, but also one of the best standalone miniseries ever made even decades later.

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  Claudius

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  Siân Phillips

  Livilla

• Patricia Quinn

  Antonia

• Margaret Tyzack

  Augustus