Peacock recently released the first trailer and premiere date for its gladiator series directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Academy Award-winner Anthony Hopkins, Deadline reported.

The 10-episode series, set to premiere on July 18, is based on Daniel P. Mannix's 1958 classic of the same name and republished as The Way of the Gladiator in 2001. The book was also the inspiration for Ridley Scott's 2000 film Gladiator.

The story follows Emperor Vaspasian (Hopkins) during the peak of the Roman Empire. The drama is set in the fierce world of the gladiatorial games. The series will focus on the business side of the blood sport. The characters introduced in the show will be ones from the sport, politics and the dynasties.

The cast includes Iwan Rheon (Tenax), Sara Martins (Cala), Tom Hughes (Titus Flavianus), Jojo Macari (Domitian Flavianus), Moe Hashim (Kwame), Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Viggo), Rupert Penry-Jones (Marsus), Gabriella Pession (Antonia), Dimitri Leonidas (Scorpius), Emilio Sakraya (Xenon), David Wurawa (Gavros), Pepe Barroso, Gonçalo Almeida, Eneko Sagardoy and Romana Maggiora Vergano.

In the trailer, Hopkins intones, “The telling of history is but a history of war.”

The scenes are followed by the characters in the series but not yet identified.

The actor continues to narrate, “Not only those fought on battlefields, waged with whispers in palaces, or before the crowds in the arenas. Citizens of Rome, place your bets well. For there are those about to rise, and those about to die.”

The title comes from the apocryphal salute that gladiators give to the ruler before the games, “Hail Caesar, we who are about to die salute you!”

Emperor Vaspasian was the last emperor to rule during the Year of the Four Emperors. He was also the founder of the Flavian dynasty which ruled the Roman Empire for 27 years.

Scorpius (also known as Flavius Scorpus, played by Leonidas) was a popular charioteer who achieved 2,048 victories. He was one of the most famous drivers during that time and as such, earned a vast amounts of money. However, he died at age 27.

Titus Flavianus (Hughes) was Vespasian's son and a military commander who served under his father during the First Jewish-Roman War. In Rome, he served as a prefect of the Praetorian Guard, the emperor's bodyguards and intelligence agents.

As the Roman Empire declined, the only spectacles left to satisfy the decadent Romans were death and torture which the gladiator games provided.

Roland Emmerich recently wrote, produced and directed the 2022 sci-fi movie Moonfall. He has two upcoming projects aside from this film, a reboot of the 1994 movie Stargate and and the action film Maya Lord.

Two-time Academy Award-winner Anthony Hopkins currently starred in 2023's One Life and recently voiced Jimmy in Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire. He's also set to reprise the role in the sequel The Scargiver. Hopkins has two other upcoming projects the sci-fi movie Eyes in the Trees and the horror thriller Locked.