The legendaryAnthony Hopkinshas not slowed down at all and continues to act in many productions well into his old age. Most recently, it’s been announced that he’ll appear in the upcoming historical dramaThose About To Die,according toThe Hollywood Reporter. The series is set in ancient Rome and concerns gladiatorial combat and the politics surrounding it. Hopkins will star as Emperor Vespasian, who is struggling to stabilize the Roman Empire after a long and bloody civil war.
The setting is described as a “complex and corrupt world of spectacle-driven gladiatorial competition” and will feature “an ensemble of diverse characters across the many layers of Roman society where sports, politics, and business intersect and collide.”
No other cast members have been announced yet, but we do know that Roland Emmerichis set todirect the series. His most famous film isIndependence Day, and he’s directed and written other sci-fi and disaster epics such asThe Day After Tomorrow, 2012,and 1998’sGodzilla. However,Emmerich is no stranger to historical dramas, having directedThe Patriot, Anonymous,andMidway.
Emmerich is teaming up again with screenwriter Robert Rodat, who had written the script forThe Patriot.Rodat’s other credits includeFly Away HomeandSaving Private Ryan, the latter being regarded by many as one of, if not the best war film of all time.
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Will Those About To Die Join Hopkins' Long List of Masterpieces?
Anthony Hopkins has starred in dozens of films and TV shows since he began acting in the 1960s. His most iconic role is perhaps Hannibal Lecter inThe Silence of the Lambs,in which he played a deranged but brilliant cannibal. This earned him a BAFTA Award and an Academy Award for Best Actor. He won another Academy Award for his work on 2021’sThe Father,in which he plays an aging man suffering from severe memory loss who insists that he’s fine and refuses help from his daughter.
His first-ever role was in a live play as Metellus Cimber, one of the Roman senators who assassinated Julius Ceasar. He’ll be returning to that time period and setting inThose About To Die,although he’ll be a Roman emperor instead someone who conspired to kill one. One of his upcoming films isRebel Moon, a Zack Snyder-directed space opera in which Hopkins will voice a battle robot named Jimmy.
Those About to Diewill stream on Peacock, but no release date has been set. The series will be directed by Roland Emmerich and written by Robert Rodat.
