Gladiator II is still six months away, but if you need your fix of swords and sandals before then, Peacock and Roland Emmerich have you covered. Ancient Rome lives again in new images from Those About To Die. The ten-episode miniseries will premiere on the streamer on July 18, 2024.
Entertainment Weekly has the new images, in which Anthony Hopkins wears the imperial robes and laurel leaves as Flavius Vespasian, the Roman Emperor who established the Flavian Dynasty. The images also offer a closer look at a number of the series’ characters, including Tom Hughes (Victoria) as Titus, Flavius’ son and eventual successor; Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) as Tenax, a games master who attempts to start a new faction of chariot racers; Pepe Barroso (Gran Turismo), Gonçalo Almeida (Amor Amor), and Eneko Sagardoy (Counting Sheep) as the Corsi Brothers, who provide Tenax with swift Andalusian horses; Sara Martins (Death in Paradise) as Cala, a woman who tries to protect her family even as they’re sold into slavery; and Gabriella Pession (The Count of Monte Cristo) and Rupert Penry-Jones (The Strain) as Antonia and Marsus, a patrician couple who own Tenax’s rival chariot team.
What Is ‘Those About To Die’ About?
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Based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Daniel P. Mannix, Those About To Die is an expansive epic that follows the intersection of sports, slavery, and politics in Ancient Rome during the reign of Emperor Vespasian. It will travel between layers of Roman society, from the Emperor and his sons at the top, down to the slaves and gladiators who toiled and battled for the amusement of the elite – with all manners of aristocrats power brokers, and opportunists in between. The setting for all this will be the Roman Colosseum, which Vespasian first commissioned the construction of in AD 72; it still stands to this day, an eternal monument to the power, spectacle, and hedonism of Ancient Rome. If this all sounds familiar, it’s because Mannix‘s novel also served as inspiration to David Franzoni when he wrote the first draft of the screenplay to the megahit Gladiator.
Those About to Die was created and written by Robert Rodat, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Saving Private Ryan. It was directed and executive produced by Hollywood master of disaster Emmerich and Marco Kreuzpaintner (The Lazarus Project).
All ten episodes of Those About To Die will premiere on Peacock on July 18, 2024. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
via Collider