#ilium webseries

An entirely queer creative team and mostly queer cast.

Six explicitly bi/pan characters, all of them important to the story and with diverse experiences and identities outside of their sexualities.

Helen of Troy/Sparta as a woman of color who actually has agency.

Multiple nonbinary characters who have names and contribute to the plot and are in the main cast.

Cassandra as a Jewish lesbian who’s interested in the Greek gods and has actual prophetic abilities. 

Five (possibly more depending on how this last bit of casting goes) Asian or Asian American characters, all of them with different backgrounds, motivations, and personalities.

Achilles and Patroclus as a canon couple who also live together.

Friends playing Jackbox games in quarantine.

A long-distance sapphic relationship.

Modern. Ajax. Vaping.

mlm/wlw solidarity.

Bagpipes.

A video essay about annoying white liberals.

An episode in which a third of the cast bakes brownies.

An ensemble cast with thirteen queer characters and one token straight friend where no one’s arc revolves around coming out.

OTP: And they were roommates. Oh my god they were roommates. 

Hi everyone!

As you may know, I've been working on creating a literary-inspired webseries based on the Iliad for about three years now, and it's finally airing on YouTube! The first three episodes are out now, and Episode 4 premiers this Friday!

Ilium is a modernized adaptation of the Iliad by @songsofantiquity airing Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays on YouTube at 5 PM Central/6 PM Eastern.

Here are some things you should know about the show:

1) The story. Ilium has transplanted the characters and story of the Iliad into spring 2021, where two friend groups spread across the country are embroiled in a year-long feud that extends beyond petty interpersonal issues into rivalries, relationship troubles, and some real lasting consequences for some of the characters.

2) The characters. Ilium's cast consists of fourteen characters played by a wide variety of actors. Watch for the modern version of Achilles, Patroclus, Agamemnon, Helen, Hector, Andromache, Cassandra, Odysseus, Diomedes, Nestor, Ajax, Paris, Sarpedon, and Aeneas.

3) The format. Ilium is told through a variety of in-universe videos, including vlogs by Odessia and Cassandra (and their guests), Zoom and FaceTime calls, and maybe the occasional Instagram live (but no spoilers!).

4) The soundtrack. Ilium has several original songs, many of them composed and performed by the actors. In the first episodes, you can hear the main theme, Cassandra's Soundscape, and Ody's Theme (which is technically a sea shanty!). Stick around for more original music including an Achilles/Patrick love theme and maybe one or two renditions of My Heart Will Go On.

5) The diversity. Out of Ilium's fourteen characters, only one is definitely cishet, and as of Episode 3, every one of the eight characters we've met is canonically LGBTQ+. Specifically, there are several lesbians, a gay man, multiple bi and pan characters (including Achilles, Helen, and Odessia), and multiple nonbinary characters (including Angela and Nestor). Additionally, only half of the cast is white, and there are several Jewish characters (and one Hellenic pagan). The queer characters are played by queer actors, and the creative team is also diverse in terms of gender, sexuality, and race. There's also neurodivergent rep! So if you want to support diverse media, this is a great show for you!

6) The similar media. Watch Ilium if you enjoyed:

Eddy Rex (modernized Greek mythology!)

Middlemarch: The Series (ensemble cast of queer characters)

Away From It All (experimental/mixed video format)

The Best Wishes (Sarah Gruber, who played Millie Wishfort, plays Anya in Ilium)

Project Green Gables (introspective, character-focused episodes)

Nothing Much To Do and Lovely Little Losers (comedy, romantic/sexual tension, and original music)

7) The content warnings. Please be aware that Ilium contains the following:

Swearing

Sex jokes and innuendos

Frequent mentions of the pandemic and quarantine

Threats of violence

Depictions of toxic romantic relationships and toxic/manipulative friendships

Mentions of medical emergencies and hospitalizations

Specific content warnings are posted in the description of every episode!

8) Some other things you'll get from Ilium, in no particular order:

Jokes about Tinder

Modern Odysseus and Diomedes as roommates

Modern Achilles and Patroclus as a canon couple

A cowboy outfit or two

A baking episode

Plenty of flannel

The phrase "girls, gays, and pagan babes"

ORBS!

Ilium is a literary-inspired webseries based on the Iliad! I’m the writer/director/miscellaneous other things, so I occasionally reblog stuff related to it on this blog. Helen is the modern Helen of Troy, and Cassandra is the modern version of the prophet Cassandra from the Trojan War. The official Tumblr for the show is @songsofantiquity and the first six episodes are already up on YouTube! Episode 7 airs tomorrow, and then there will be three episodes per week for the next two weeks and then a short break before the next chunk of episodes airs. 

We are thrilled to announce that Ilium has an official trailer and release date! Join us on YouTube for the trailer premier at 4pm central time today and again this Friday (March 5th) for Episode 1! 

Things you might see in the trailer:

An Avatar: The Last Airbender reference

A complaint about straight people

Tea

Modern Achilles

Two fictional YouTubers with radically different aesthetics

We’ve been quiet for a few days, but it’s only because we were preparing content for you. Check out our official announcement video and then follow us here and subscribe to us on YouTube for the first cast introduction tomorrow (modern Odysseus, perchance?).

Hello everyone! Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are in need of actors for the following roles. Trans and BIPOC actors are encouraged to audition.

ANYA (she/her) is a bio major and a dance minor in her third year of college. She is also — at least in her own mind — the goddess of love. She loves fashion, pop music, romcoms, and failing to respect her friends’ boundaries. Gemini, pansexual, thinks it should still be acceptable to identify as a Slytherin.

PARIS (he/him) is a deeply repressed theatre major in his third year of college. He overcompensates for his insecurities with a performance of masculinity that might make people uncomfortable if they took him more seriously. He’s been in a long-distance relationship for the past year, but it’s not right for either of them and he doesn’t quite know what to do about that. ESFP, might call himself “metrosexual,” is NOT a himbo.

NESTOR (any gender, any pronouns) is a philosophy grad student who, due to the current pandemic, still mostly hangs out with their younger friends from undergrad. They go by their last name. They give good advice (that isn’t always heeded), and they could be considered the mom friend.