All 10 episodes of Peacock’s historical drama, Those About to Die, will drop on the streaming service on Thursday, July 18. The series is set during 79 AD and centers around Rome’s infamous gladiator competitions, as well as the fortunes the city spent on funding them. It stars Anthony Hopkins, Game of Thrones’ Iwan Rheon, Sara Martins, Tom Hughes, Jojo Macari, Moe Hashim, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Rupert Penry-Jones, Gabriella Pession, Dimitri Leonidas, and Emilio Sakraya.

Hashim is most well known for portraying Moe Bumbercatch in Ted Lasso, while Jóhannesson has worked on projects such as Succession, The Witcher, and Vikings: Valhalla. Their characters come from different backgrounds, but each has an impressive skill set that serves them in gladiator training. Although Kwame and Viggo appear to be an unlikely duo, the two form a bond, just as the actors did behind the scenes.

Screen Rant chats with Moe Hashim and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson about training to portray gladiators and building an on-screen and off-screen rapport while filming Those About to Die.

Those About To Die Features Real Lions, Tigers, Wolves, And More

Screen Rant: Moe, your character is a lion tracker, and I just need to know if there were real animals involved in this.

Moe Hashim: Let me tell you this—my first day on set, there were two lions, there were two wolves, there was a jaguar, there was a tiger. What else was there? There was an owl. So there were definitely real live animals. As far as working with them, they were in cages right next to me. I was kind of nervous because I’m quite scared when it comes to animals, but it was an experience I’ll never forget, for sure.

Jóhannes, your character is a weapons expert, and I know your work on other shows like Vikings probably helped prepare you, but what kind of training did you need to do for a sport with so much Roman history behind it?

Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson: Yes. There are a lot of different weapons, and I have some experience from Viking shows where you use an axe or sword, but these were different kinds of swords. There are different lengths, some of these swords are quite short, you have nets, you have tridents, and a lot of the time spent with the stunt people was working on how you use these weapons.

You don’t want to hurt your fellow actors, so you have to be mindful of distance, but not too much distance, because it has to look good for the camera. We would really go into the different sort of weapons and how you would use them. It was a great experience. It was different. I’ve done fighting before, but not with these kinds of weapons, so that was great fun. It’s always nice to learn something new.

Hashim & Jóhannesson Bring Their Real-Life Friendship To The Screen

Your characters share a lot of scenes together as gladiators. What was it like building that onscreen dynamic?

Moe Hashim: A lot of the onscreen dynamic was already worked in when we were training for the fight scenes. We probably spent more time training than we actually did filming together. Would you agree?

Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson: Yeah, and I would try and stay in his hotel room for sleepovers until he asked me not to do that anymore, because I had my own room at the hotel.

Moe Hashim: I am the most amazing host, but after the third time, like, just get a room.

Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson: I was just trying to be buddies, Moe. Ups and downs, ups and downs. [Laughs] We became friends for real, and we tried to bring that to the show, and it was a great experience.

The Roman Empire is obviously known for being extremely violent to provide what was seen as entertainment, but was it startling to be transported there, in a way, and gain a deeper understanding of what was actually going on during the time period?

Moe Hashim: The thing is, other than training for the fight scenes, when we had scenes of dialogue and stuff, we would sometimes meet on the roof or at the bottom of the hotel, and go through some of the scenes, and Jóhannes had the book of Those About To Die. So every time I would sit down, he’d be like, “Did you imagine what they did during this time? No, listen to this,” and he’d tell me things that went on.

Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson: It’s endless. You could spend all day every day for years and not get to the bottom of what was going on during that time. It’s amazing, isn’t it? And we touch on a lot of it on the show.

About Those About To Die

THOSE ABOUT TO DIE is an epic drama set in the corrupt world of the spectacle-driven gladiatorial competition, exploring a side of ancient Rome never before told — the dirty business of entertaining the masses, giving the mob what they want most…blood and sport. The series introduces an ensemble of characters from all corners of the Roman Empire who collide at the explosive intersection of sports, politics, and dynasties.

Check out our other interviews with the cast of Those About to Die:

• Gabriella Pession & Dimitri Leonidas
• Roland Emmerich
• Jojo Macari & Tom Hughes
• Iwan Rheon & Sara Martins

Source: Screen Rant Plus