In 1999, the American network ABC adapted it for television, and released it as a four-part mini series entitled Cleopatra starring the French-Chilean actress Leonor Varela alongside Timothy Dalton and Billy Zane.

The story follows Cleopatra VII, from her early life under the rule of her father Ptolemy XII Auletes, to her eventual suicide.

[2] Referring to the many incorrect presentations of the legendary queen, George considers her novel to be "the most historically accurate version within the limits of the medium".

[3] She viewed Cleopatra fundamentally as a "political leader" who suffered from centuries of Roman propaganda and Shakespearean plays, each of whom sought to depict her as "flighty".

[4] By 1997, George was a successful author who had published popular historical novels about Henry VIII of England and Mary, Queen of Scots.

[5] George launched a national book tour in April,[6] and it landed on The New York Times Best Seller list for fiction hardcover in May and June.

[9] Harlan added that while "long swaths of Roman civil warfare might prove skimmable for some... the rest of The Memoirs of Cleopatra is completely absorbing, as if ancient frescoes had sprung alive".

[9] Publishers Weekly also gave a positive review, lauding her "palpably real" settings and ability to depict the era's many battles with "skill and passion".

Filmed in North Africa and London,[4] it starred the "purposely unknown" French-Chilean actress Leonor Varela as the titular character, along with costars Timothy Dalton and Billy Zane as her respective lovers Caesar and Antony.

[3][12] The adaptation, which received mixed to negative reviews,[12][13] deviated from the novel in several significant ways, including its condensing of Cleopatra's relationship with Antony.