Well, if crowning the emperor isn't a good sign that this one is moving ahead I don't know what is: as Deadline reports, Roland Emmerich has cast Anthony Hopkins as emperor Vespasian in Peacocks' new epic TV series about gladiators THOSE ABOUT TO DIE! The large scale drama is set within the spectacular, complex and corrupt world of gladiatorial sports in Ancient Rome introducing diverse characters across the many layers of Roman society where sports, politics and business intersect and collide. Emperor Vespasian of Rome and head of the Flavian bloodline, is battle tested, a rural upstart who claimed his throne after victory in a bloody 10-year civil war. He is aging and is despised by the Patricians jockeying for position in the Empire and looking to supplant his heirs to the throne the first chance they get.

After the success of Magpie Murders, the series is getting a follow up in MOONFLOWER MURDERS over at PBS and BBC even though the first series was produced by Britbox. Lesley Manville returns as editor turned sleuth Susan Ryeland with Timothy McMullan returning as famous literary detective Atticus Pünd. It will be based on another book by Anthony Horovitz which takes place after the Magpie story and focuses on the disappearance of a hotel employee, with the plot also having a story-within-a-story. 

Stephen Colbert will produce the series

Although many have tried to do an adaptation of Roger Zelazny's CHRONICLES OF AMBER famous epic fantasy saga, it seems the production might move ahead as Stephen Colbert has now decided to executive produce it. Sold in more than fifteen million copies around the world and translated in over 40 languages, the series follows the story of Corwin, who is said to awaken on Earth with no memory, but soon finds he is a prince of a royal family that has the ability to travel through different dimensions of reality (called ‘shadows’) and rules over the one true world, Amber. The saga has been published in ten books.