Those about to die

TV Series

22/01/2026

Year:

2024-

Running time:

60 mn

Number of Seasons:

Episodes:

Genre:

Action, Epic, Adventure, Historical, Drama

Nationality:

USA, Germany, Italy

Language:

English

Platform:

Peacock, Prime Video

Director:

Robert Rodat

Producer:

Centropolis Entertainment, High End Productions, Hollywood Gang Productions, Peacock

Screenwriter/s:

Robert Rodat, Jill Robi

Cast:

Anthony Hopkins, Iwan Rheon, Tom Hughes, Sara Martins, Jóhannes Haukur, Gabriella Pession, and others

Other websites:

Trailer:

Summary

Rome, 79 A.D.: the center of the Roman Empire is the richest city in the world, and there is a great influx of slave laborers from the growing empire to do the work. The Roman population - bored, restless, and increasingly violent - is kept in check by two things: bread and circuses; blood and sport. And when the people's taste for entertainment became more bloodthirsty, a stadium was designed especially for gladiatorial combat: the Colosseum. (Filmaffinity)

Nilotic boat with traitors dressed as Egyptians (Screenshot by author)

“Sobek” is coming to give his punishment (Screenshot by author)

Egyptomania narratives or motifs

At the beginning of the first season (episode 1), Kwame is a hunter tracking lions in Numidia (a Roman province of Northern Africa), which he then sells to the Romans who use them in gladiatorial arenas. When he and his troop find a white lion, he explains to the others that this wildcat is the lion-god of his people, Apedemak. But Kwame must leave Africa to go to Rome and help his sisters who have become slaves after they killed a Roman based in Africa. In the capital, he becomes a gladiator and, over the course of his successes, a lineage is woven between him and the lion-god (episodes 5 and 10).
During a show given in the flooded arena, the enemies of the emperor are placed on a typically Egyptian boat and offered to the crocodiles, presented as Sobek (episode 9)
Quick references: Egypt is the backdrop for part of the storyline as the wheat from there does not reach Rome due to a plot (episode 1 for instance), and the black pharaohs are also briefly mentioned (episode 3).

Author: Thomas Gamelin