Anthony Hopkins, Emperor of Rome in the photos from Roland Emmerich's peplum series

Those About to Die will be released soon on Prime Video.

In the heart of the Roman Empire, at the time of the construction of the Colosseum in Rome… With Those About to Diethe director of Independence Day, Roland Emmerichlaunches into the historical and political series, exploring the Flavian dynasty, drawing inspiration from Daniel P. Mannix's 1958 book of the same name (which also inspired Gladiator by Ridley Scott). The screenwriter of We have to save the soldier Ryan, Robert Rodata specialist in Roman history, wrote Those About to Die.

“I've wanted to explore the Roman Empire for a long time… We know a lot of what happened to the Flavians, so we've stuck as closely as possible to the historical record of these people, not just in terms of what they did, but also what we are told about their state of mind, their personalities… There is a large amount of information from this period, an enormous amount of material has survived. assures the author in Entertainment Weekly, who took care to balance historical facts with original dramatization.

Anthony Hopkins thus gives rise to the Emperor Flavius ​​Vespasian, who must decide which of his two sons, the military leader Titus (Tom Hughes) or the cunning politician Domitian (Jojo Macari) will succeed him at the head of the Empire. “He is a mighty Emperor.”analysis Anthony Hopkins. “Rome was very corrupt at the time and Vespasian did everything he could to save the Empire. With bread and games, he knew how to entertain the people. The Flavians arrived at the right time and were able to reconsolidate the Empire.”

Filmmaker Roland Emmerich directed five of the ten episodes and is delighted to have been able to film the Oscar-winning actor: “He has this gravity within him that he infuses into all his roles. It’s Anthony Hopkins. There's a reason he has two Oscars…”

In the rest of the story, we will also follow Tenax (Iwan Rheon of Game of Thrones), a businessman who runs the Circus Games and attempts to create a new chariot racing faction, with his star racer Scorpus (Dimitri Leonidas). He will cross paths with a Numidian family led by Cala (Sarah Martins), a resourceful mother who fights tirelessly to protect her daughters Aura (Kyshan Wilson) and Jula (Alicia Edogamhe), sold as slaves…

The 10 episodes of Those About to Die will premiere Thursday, July 18 on Peacock. The series can be seen in France on Prime Video.