Those About To Die Trailer: Peacock Gladiator Series Starring Anthony Hopkins Reveals First Look

Straight from WWE’s Wrestlemania 40, NBC and Peacock have released the first teaser trailer for Those About To Die. The new gladiator-drama hails from director and executive producer Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day) and stars two-time Academy Award-winner Anthony Hopkins. Peacock confirmed that all ten episodes of Those About To Die will premiere on July 18, just in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics which kickstart on July 26. Check out the teaser trailer for Those About To Die in the player above. 

Those About To Die is an epic drama set in the corrupt world of the spectacle-driven gladiatorial competition, exploring a side of ancient Rome never before told – the dirty business of entertaining the masses, giving the mob what they want most…blood and sport. The series introduces an ensemble of characters from all corners of the Roman Empire who collide at the explosive intersection of sports, politics, and dynasties.

Hopkins leads a cast that also includes Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones), Sara Martins, Tom Hughes (A Discovery of Witches), Jojo Macari (Morbius), Moe Hashim, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Rupert Penry-Jones, Gabriella Pession, Dimitri Leonidas, Emilio Sakraya, David Wurawa, Pepe Barroso, Gonçalo Almeida, Eneko Sagardoy, Romana Maggiora Vergano.

“I have always been fascinated by the history of the Roman Empire,” Emmerich said in a statement for the trailer’s release. “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.”

Emmerich directed five of the ten episodes in Those About To Die with Marco Kreuzpaintner (Bodies, The Lazarus Project) directing the other five. Executive producers for Those About To Die include Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser, Gianni Nunnari, Stuart Ford, Lourdes Diaz, Miguel A. Palos Jr., Marco Kreuzpaintner, Robert Rodat, Herbert G. Kloiber, Martin Moszkowicz, Oliver Berben, Jonas Bauer, Charles Holland, Namit Malhotra. Emmerich, Kloser and Nunnari developed the show and brought it to AGC Studios.