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Home TV News Roland Emmerich’s Epic Rome Series ‘Those About To Die’ Gets July Premiere On Prime Video UK

Roland Emmerich’s Epic Rome Series ‘Those About To Die’ Gets July Premiere On Prime Video UK

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Iwan Rheon, Sara Martins, Tom Hughes, Jojo Macari and Moe Hashim

by Dave Elliott

Epic new Rome series Those About To Die, from Director and Executive Producer Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day) and starring two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins has landed a July premiere date on Peacock in the USA, and on Prime Video in the UK, other select European countries, Canada, India and Sub-Sahara Africa.

Panem et Circenses – Bread and Entertainment; Rome in 79 A.D.: 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.

Those About To Die delves into the world of the games – a world characterised by bloodlust, greed for money, the pursuit of power, and corruption. 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.

“I have always been fascinated by the history of the Roman Empire,” commented Emmerich. “So much still seems relevant for our society today – from the entanglement of politics and sports to the disciplines of the competitions, which haven’t changed much either over the last 2000 years. The most electrifying spectacles for the masses still involve two men in an arena, beating each other up, and the chariots of today are called race cars whose drivers still crash and often pay with their lives. When my partners Gianni Nunnari and Harald Kloser put Daniel Mannix’s Those About to Die on my reading list, I was immediately hooked. My goal was to create a show that explores a side of Rome never told before – the dirty business of entertaining the masses, giving the mob what they want most… blood and sport. Let the games begin.”

The series stars Academy Award winner Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs, King Lear) as Emperor Vespasian, Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) as Tenax, Tom Hughes (The English, Victoria) as Titus Flavianus, Sara Martins (Tell No One, Death in Paradise) as Cala, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Game of Thrones) as Viggo, alongside Jojo Macari (Sex Education), Gabriella Pession (Crossing Lines), Dimitri Leonidas (Rosewater, Renegades), Moe Hashim (Ted Lasso), Rupert Penry-Jones (Whitechapel), Eneko Sagardoy (Elite), Pepe Barroso (Gran Turismo), Gonçalo Almeida (Amor, Amor), Kyshan Wilson (Under the Amalfi Sun), Alicia Edogamhe (Summertime) and others.

The series is written by Academy Award-nominated head writer Robert Rodat (The Patriot, Saving Private Ryan), and directed by Roland Emmerich (‘The Patriot’, ‘Independence Day’, ‘Stargate’), together with Marco Kreuzpaintner (Beat, The Lazarus Project).

Inspired by the nonfiction book of the same name by Daniel P. Mannix, the 10-episode series comes from AGC studios and was commissioned by High End Productions, the Joint Venture recently created by Herbert G. Kloiber and Constantin Film, together with the American streaming provider Peacock and is produced by Centropolis, Hollywood Gang and Street Entertainment. Executive Producers are Emmerich, Harald Kloser (2012, White House Down, Midway), Gianni Nunnari (The Departed, 300), Herbert G. Kloiber, Martin Moszkowicz, Oliver Berben, Jonas Bauer, Charles Holland, Stuart Ford and Lourdes Diaz, Charles Holland, Kreuzpaintner and Rodat.

Those About To Die‘ premieres Thursday, July 18, 2024, on Peacock in the USA, and then Friday, 19th July 2024 on Prime Video UK, other select European countries, Canada, India and Sub-Sahara Africa.

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