Los Angeles -- Starz's upcoming drama The White Queen is a period drama like much of the network's other
series, but CEO Chris Albrecht said the fact that it centered on a female
character was a big reason for picking it up.
"The take on telling the story through
the eyes of women, I think, made it unique, which was something that we felt
made it more right for Starz," he said during comments at the TCA press tour on
Friday. "The quality was there, and it also moved me and us further down a path
that I have been thinking of, which is that women are underserved in the
premium space."
Albrecht has seen the success of
premium television for women since he led HBO when it was airing the seminal
series Sex and the City. In addition to
White Queen, Starz has the upcoming Outlander, which follows the story of a
married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743
and forced to marry a young Scottish warrior.
"While, certainly, we want shows that
have broad appeal, I do think that we are now more sensitive to saying there
may be an opportunity here for us, and White
Queen fit into that," he said.
Other highlights from Albrecht's
comments include:
• On the future of Magic City: He said there are surprises in store for the last three
episodes of its second season, but wouldn't say whether the period drama would
be renewed. "We're fans of the show. As I've said before, our policy process is
one or two seasons of a show to really get behind something if we like the
work. We're now evaluating all the options."
• On a possible Boss movie: "That's not going to happen. We tried to make that
happen and [creator] Farhad [Safinia] just didn't see it in his head. So if he
wasn't going to be able to come up with a way to do that, then there was
certainly no way to proceed without him."
• On the death of Sopranos star James Gandolfini: "[He] was part of years and an
experience and a project that changed my life and that changed everybody's
lives that were intimately involved with it. I remember the first time I saw
him and I'll never forget it. He was extraordinarily talented, and I have said
this before, but in my opinion, nobody has ever been better in anything than
James in The Sopranos. He will be
missed and he was a very nice man."
