Netflix’s latest dark comedy The Decameron answers the question: How would a group of wealthy people, isolated from the rest of the world due to a pandemic, act? If that premise is sounding eerily relevant to the last few years, it’s no coincidence.

Showrunner Kathleen Jordan was inspired by what the world had experienced during the early days of Covid-19, and by “the concept of examining the slice of life moment of a pandemic.” Loosely based on Giovanni Boccaccio’s short story collection set during the Black Death, Jordan found a way to tell this story to a modern audience.

A jam-packed ensemble cast — including Tony Hale, Zosia Mamet, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Jessica Plummer and Tanya Reynolds — comes together in an Italian villa in an attempt to wait out the plague. While the concept itself doesn’t immediately read comedy, through Jordan’s unique tone and the acting, the...