Amadeus trailer strikes a bold note for Sky

Image: Sky Press

By Jon Donnis

Sky has dropped the first trailer for its new limited series Amadeus, a fresh Sky Original that brings a lively edge to one of music's most enduring stories. Will Sharpe takes on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a prodigy whose genius flickers between dazzling brilliance and raw chaos. Paul Bettany steps into the role of Antonio Salieri, the court composer who watches Mozart's rise with a mix of admiration and growing dread. Gabrielle Creevy appears as Constanze Weber, whose fierce loyalty anchors Mozart at his wildest moments.

The series draws on Peter Shaffer's celebrated play, with Joe Barton shaping it into a five part retelling that treats Mozart not as a distant historical figure but as a vibrant force who upset the balance of 18th Century Vienna. The show follows him at twenty five, newly arrived in a city humming with possibility. He is desperate to shake off the child prodigy label and push his music into new territory, yet his arrival pulls him straight into the paths of Constanze and Salieri.

From that point the story becomes a clash of talent, ambition and faith. Mozart's reputation may be questionable and the conservative court may eye him with suspicion, yet his gift refuses to dim. Salieri, devout and proud of his position, finds himself tortured by the idea that this unruly young composer possesses something close to a divine spark. It eats at him. It shapes his every thought. Mozart becomes a danger to his standing, his sense of self and even his belief in God.

What begins as rivalry twists into something darker. The obsession stretches across three decades, haunted by the idea that only one of them can truly define the age. It eventually surfaces in a confession of murder and a final attempt by Salieri to tie his own name to Mozart's for all time.

The trailer hints at a lavish but unsettling world. It feels like a story about genius, jealousy and the price of wanting to be remembered, all wrapped in the energy of a musician who refused to play by the rules.