Anthony Hopkins is arguably one of Hollywood’s most popular and talented actors, and he’s bringing his acting chops to a brand-new historical miniseries. Set in ancient Rome, Peacock’s Those About to Die centers around gladiator competitions and the seedy underbelly of the business.
Released in July 2024, director Roland Emmerich has hinted at a possible second season for the series. In fact, he already has a possible concept he’d like to explore, if additional episodes are green-lit.
Inspired by the non-fiction book of the same name by author and journalist Daniel P. Mannix, Those About to Die takes place in 79 AD. As aforementioned, it centers around the gladiator combat, which served as the primary form of entertainment in ancient Rome, and the less-than-licit activities that surrounded it.
The project was announced in 2022, with Hopkins signing on the following year. The actor, best known for portraying Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991), will be playing Emperor Vespasian, who ruled from 69-79 AD and was the last ruler in the Year of the Four Emperors.
Others slated to appear in Those About to Die include Jojo Macari, Dimitri Leonidas, Iwan Rheon and Gabriella Pession. Robert Rodat, the writer of Saving Private Ryan (1998), is the brains behind the miniseries, with Emmerich directing.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Emmerich sat down with Collider to discuss the possibility of a second season of Those About to Die. While nothing has been set in stone, given the miniseries’ average reception from viewers, the director did hint at what he’d like to explore if given the opportunity to continue with the story.
According to Emmerich, he’d like to do a prequel season of sorts that would allow him to go into the characters’ backstories to provide additional context, while also driving the characters forward in the overall storyline.
“We have this idea to do a Godfather: [Part] Two model,” he told the publication. “Meaning, Godfather 1 was this perfect movie, and they said, ‘what should we do?’ They went into the past so that you show how all this came to be that [Domitian] became emperor, and that gets his son in trouble because he’s related to him. They go after him and he survives, and then, on the other hand, tell the story of all these characters – what happens further, and I don’t want to give that away.”
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All episodes of Those About to Die are currently available on NBC’s streaming platform Peacock.
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