Some historical events keep a mysterious hold on us. For Tom Hiddleston, it’s the eruption at Pompeii. In 1998, when he was 17, a visit to the ruins sparked a lifelong fascination with the disaster. In the human casts, he saw a hidden narrative. Alongside scholars and archaeologists, Hiddleston now travels back to the remote Italian region to investigate how three real-life Romans fared during the 24-hour eruption. The three episodes are part documentary, part dramatic reenactment, part revisionist history lesson—an approach that imbues the subject matter with unexpected sensitivity and color. “They were three dimensional people with rich lives,” Hiddleston told the Los Angeles Times. “We follow the trail of breadcrumbs as far as we can, and then try to bring them to life with empathy and compassion.” —Maggie Turner