Game of Thrones star Iwan Rheon is one of nine joining the cast of Peacock’s epic gladiator drama Those About to Die, as principal photography on the Roland Emmerich show kicked off at Rome’s historic Cinecittà Studios.
Rheon, best known as Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones, has has been cast as ambitious crime boss Tenax and will replace Lorenzo Richelmy, who has dropped out over scheduling conflicts. Rheon is currently appearing in The Magic Flute and has appeared in the BAFTA-winner Misfits and Netflix’s The Dirt.
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Also joining the cast are Liraz Charhi, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Rupert Penry-Jones, Eneko Sagardoy, Pepe Barroso, Gonçalo Almeida, Kyshan Wilson and Alicia Edogamhe.
Inspired by Daniel Mannix’s non-fiction book of the same name, Those About to Die is billed as an epic drama set in the complex and corrupt world of ancient Rome’s spectacle-driven gladiatorial competition. AGC Studios and High End Productions are attached, with Italy’s Wildside providing local production services.
Anthony Hopkins Joins Peacock’s Gladiator Drama Series ‘Those About To Die’, the Emperor of Rome and head of the Flavian bloodline, and the likes of Sara Martins and Dimitri Leonidas have already been cast for key roles.
Of the new cast, Charhi (Tehran, Fair Game, Left Turn at the End of the World) will play Berenice, queen of the conquered Judea’s held captive in Rome. Johannesson (Vikings: Valhalla, Game of Thrones) plays imposing Norse gladiator Viggo and Penry-Jones (Spooks, Whitechapel) is Marsus, a wealthy patrician and retired general who desire’s the throne.
Sagardoy (Giant, Elite), Barroso (45 rpm, High Seas) and Almeida (Esperança, Amor Amor) play the Corsi brothers, while Wilson (Viola, Under the Amalfi Sun) plays female gladiator in training Aura. Edogamhe (Summertime) plays a slave who is sold to Marsus and Antonia (Gabriella Pession).
Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow director Emmerich is directing alongside Marco Kreuzpaintner, with Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan, The Patriot) writing. The trio are executive producers along with Hollywood Gang’s Gianni Nunnari (The Departed, 300), Street Entertainment’s Harald Kloser (2012, White House Down, Midway), High End’s Herbert G. Kloiber, Martin Moszkowicz, Oliver Berben and Jonas Bauer, Charles Holland (Black Lightning, The Quad, JAG), and AGC’s Ford and Chief Creative Officer Lourdes Diaz.