Anthony Hopkins Gets His Own Gladiator Series, See the New Show in Action
A teaser trailer for the upcoming gladiator series starring Anthony Hopkins, Those About to Die, has dropped. The teaser is less than a minute long and gives us very little information about what to expect from this show, so we had to do some digging to find out on our own.
Those About to Die will star Anthony Hopkins as Emperor Vespasian. The series will premiere on July 18, 2024, on Peacock and will release all 10 episodes at once. It was written by Robert Rodat, best known for his screenplays for Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot. It was directed by Roland Emmerich and Marco Kreuzpaintner.
In Those About to Die, Anthony Hopkins’ Emperor Vespasian is based on the real-life historical figure who reigned from 69 A.D. to 79 A.D.
Roland Emmerich has become well-known for his work on big, explosive blockbuster films, you may remember Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot, 2012, or The Day After Tomorrow. All of these films are huge productions with lots of things blowing up or going sideways. How that will translate to a historical drama with Anthony Hopkins is anyone’s guess, but we’re hoping for the best.
In addition to Anthony Hopkins, we know the series will star Dimitri Leonidas, Jojo Macari, and Gabriella Pession, all actors who have made names for themselves in smaller roles. So, it will be interesting to see how their characters flourish under the great legend.
In Those About to Die, Anthony Hopkins’ Emperor Vespasian is based on the real-life historical figure who reigned from 69 A.D. to 79 A.D. The series itself is loosely based on Daniel P. Mannix’s 1958 book of the same name, which is a mostly nonfiction work that combines deep research into the Roman Colosseum with a pair of fictional stories about living and working in its shadow.
In Those About to Die, we get to see Anthony Hopkin’s Emperor Vespasian overseeing the games at their greatest.
The film Gladiator, with Russell Crowe, also relied loosely on Mannix’s work, but the era covered is different. In Gladiator, we follow the aftermath of the great Marcus Aurelius, who ruled from 161 to 180 AD. For those who remember Gladiator, Marcus Aurelius had ended the brutal and bloody gladiator games in the Roman Colosseum, and his ruthless son Commodus brought them back. In the Anthony Hopkins series Those About to Die, the time period covered is one hundred years earlier.
In addition to Anthony Hopkins, we know the series will star Dimitri Leonidas, Jojo Macari, and Gabriella Pession…
In Those About to Die, we get to see Anthony Hopkin’s Emperor Vespasian overseeing the games at their greatest. The Roman Empire was continually being attacked, so to distract the people from what was happening all around them, the Emperor pushed for the great games at the Colosseum. From what we can glean from the teaser, the series will be giving us not only the point of view of the nobility, but the commoners and the gladiators themselves.
In short, Vespasian doesn’t seem like he’ll be a good guy. But who knows? Gladiator certainly played around with history and facts, so maybe we’ll get a conflicted Emperor at war with supply, demand, and the Senate. Or maybe we’ll get to see Anthony Hopkins play an anti-hero of sorts. Right now, it’s anyone’s guess from that short teaser, but we’re looking forward to Those About to Die starting streaming on Peacock in July.
