The 10 parts of the new series “Those about to die” by Roland Emmerich have been released on Amazon Prime. MeinMMO series expert Schuhmann ventured into ancient Rome and says: The parallels to Game of Thrones are clear: lots of murder, intrigue, sex and violence. The scenario is most reminiscent of Gladiator.
This is the situation with “Those about to die”: The series takes place 120 years after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Emperor Vespasian, a descendant of mule breeders, has emerged from the civil wars as emperor. He has reached the end of his life and must decide which son should succeed him:
The situation in Rome is tense: the people are starving, the grain from Egypt is simply not coming. The seething people have to be appeased with chariot races and gladiator fights. And then there is the volcano near Pompeii.
Those about to Die – Trailer for the gladiator series with director Roland Emmerich
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The Psycho from Game of Thrones is the main character of the new series on Amazon
Who is the main character? The “hero” of the story is Tenax. He is played by Iwan Rheon, the “Bastard Ramsay Bolton” from Game of Thrones.
Tenax runs a betting office and spends most of his time in the Circus Maximus and its catacombs. He has already become rich, and now he wants to move up in society: Tenax wants to open his own racing stable, which is actually only reserved for the old nobility. He will stop at nothing to get ahead. Because in Rome, you either get up or die in the process, as he knows.
The drunken racing driver Scorpus, who only speaks of himself in the third person, is supposed to help him on his way up. Scorpus likes to celebrate racing victories with wine and women.
2 families of new arrivals show us Rome
How do we get to know Rome? Just as Game of Thrones explores the world of Westeros through the eyes of the Stark children, we see Rome through the eyes of two families of newcomers:
A third family whose fate we follow belongs to the old nobility of Rome: the consul Marsus and his wife Antonia own the dominant racehorse, “the Blues”, and strive for political power. It cannot be that the descendant of a mule breeder sits on the throne.
As bloody as Game of Thrones, but not as clever
There is so much Game of Thrones in “Those about to die”: There’s definitely a lot of violence and sex. Limbs are sometimes severed or foursomes have fun. But the sex is often secondary – the series is rated 16+, so it’s often only hinted at, but the camera doesn’t focus on it for long.
The new series on Amazon also offers political power games and indulges in the trend of main characters dying unexpectedly. There are no big battles, but there are bloody duels in the arena.
Iwan Rheon is the main actor from Game of Thrones. The “biggest name” in the cast, Anthony Hopkins as Emperor Vespasian, does not play a major role in the series – like Sean Bean in Game of Thrones, he is primarily a big name for trailers and posters.
“Those about to die” is not quite as clever and surprising as Game of Thrones. There are intrigues, but they are straightforward. The motivation of each character is clearly recognizable. George RR Martin’s dazzling supporting characters are painfully missing; the characters may be morally grey, but they largely stick to their clear roles and are not surprising.
The characters have a pragmatic quality from Game of Thrones. They are also driven by emotions and moods. Even the supposed heroes are capable of acts of cruelty when they feel like it. A life is worth little in Rome.
Many chariot races in the arena
There is so much gladiator in “Those about to die”: The focus is more on the chariot races than on the gladiator fights, roughly two to one. We meet 5 charioteers, but only 3 gladiators, including the huge “Flamma”, a gigantic warrior who seems to have come straight out of “300”.
Towards the end of the series there are some spectacular scenes in the new Flavian amphitheater, which features exotic animals.
Who will benefit from “Those about to die?”“ The series is solid, but you shouldn’t expect a masterpiece, and despite Roland Emmerich and supposedly more than $140 million, the budget just wasn’t there. Anyone looking forward to complex storylines or great dialogue will probably be disappointed.
If you had trouble remembering too many names and following too many storylines in Game of Thrones, you won’t have that problem with “Those About to Die”. The series is on a similar narrative level to “Last Kingdom”: a series with several storylines that ultimately doesn’t delve as deeply into the material as Vikings or Game of Thrones, but also demands less from the viewer.
The series is reminiscent of the “SPQR” novels by John Maddox Roberts, although they are set 100 years earlier.
One problem with the series is that you never really know how powerful the individual characters actually are and how many resources they have at their disposal. Can Tenax hire five street thugs or fifty? How well protected is a Roman emperor when he is travelling “with a full escort”? How powerful is a consul, how much power can wealth really buy? All questions that remain unanswered.
“Those about to die” offers 10 episodes of good, solid television fare. The narrow focus on the chariot race and the gladiator fights makes the series a little monotonous as it goes on. But there are always beautiful highlights and exciting scenes – and ancient Rome offers a fascinating backdrop that has been used too rarely in recent years.
The series takes some historical liberties to make ancient Rome appear even more dramatic than it already was.
Where can you see this? Those about to die is available on Amazon Prime in German. The series is available from age 16.
Game of Thrones, with its many characters and storylines, was a delight for many fantasy fans, especially in the early episodes. If you have an appetite for more series material in this direction, we have put together this list: 11 series like Game of Thrones