Peacock, Prime Video prepare for Those About To Die
TRAILER: Those About To Die, a historical drama starring Anthony Hopkins that will take viewers into the gladiatorial arena of the Roman Empire, is set to debut in July.
Rome in 79 AD: The centre of the Roman Empire is the wealthiest city in the world, and there is a heavy influx of slave labourers from the growing empire to take over the work. The Roman population — bored, restless, and increasingly violent — is kept in line mainly by two things: free food and spectacular entertainment, in the form of chariot racing and gladiator fights.
The races at Circus Maximus are controlled by four Patrician-owned corporations, the Blue, Red, White and Green factions, and shares in the four factions are the most valuable things in Rome. As the taste in entertainment of the populace becomes more jaded and bloodthirsty, a specially designed stadium for gladiatorial combat is needed — the Colosseum. The scale of the stadium as well as the gladiatorial and animal combats is enormous — same as the underworld with the flourishing betting business. Underground, beneath the stands, thousands of people work and live — among them thousands who will die for the games.
Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) stars as Emperor Vespasian, with Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) as Tenax, Tom Hughes (The English) as Titus Flavianus, Sara Martins (Tell No One) as Cala and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Game of Thrones) as Viggo, Jojo Macari (Sex Education) as Domitian, Gabriella Pession (Crossing Lines) as Antonia, Dimitri Leonidas (Rosewater) as Scorpus, Emilio Sakraya (60 Minuten) as Xenon, Moe Hashim (Ted Lasso) as Kwame and Rupert Penry Jones (Whitechapel) as Marsus.
The series comes from director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) and writer Robert Rodat (The Patriot), and is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Daniel P Mannix.
The series will launch on Peacock in the US on June 18, and then exclusively on Prime Video in the UK & Ireland on July 19 and select European countries as well as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Those About to Die from AGC Television was co-commissioned by High End Productions, the joint venture created by Herbert G Kloiber and Constantin Film, together with Peacock and is produced by Centropolis Entertainment, Hollywood Gang Productions and Street Entertainment.
The series is created by Rodat and directed by Emmerich, together with Marco Kreuzpaintner (Beat, The Lazarus Project). Emmerich, Harald Kloser, Gianni Nunnari, Stuart Ford, Lourdes Diaz, Miguel A Palos Jr, Marco Kreuzpaintner, Rodat, Kloiber, Martin Moszkowicz, Oliver Berben, Jonas Bauer, Charles Holland and Namit Malhotra are executive producers of the series.
tagged in: Peacock, Prime Video, Robert Rodat, Roland Emmerich, Those About To Die