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Anthony Hopkins will play the Roman Emperor Vespasian in Those About to Die, a new historical drama series from Independence Day director Roland Emmerich.

Variety reports that the series, in the works at Peacock, is set in the "complex and corrupt" world of gladiatorial competition. Hopkins' character is an ageing Emperor who claimed his power by winning a bitter civil war; however, he now has a target on his back from rivals who want to leapfrog his heirs to the throne. 

Hopkins is the first cast member announced for the series, which is being written by Saving Private Ryan's Robert Rodat. It will be the 85-year-old actor's first series regular role since Westworld was canceled in 2018.

Since then, Hopkins has won his second Oscar for his performance as a man battling dementia in 2021's The Father. He will reprise the role, albeit in a supporting capacity, in the prequel movie The Son, which stars Hugh Jackman and opens in theaters tomorrow (January 20).

He's also shooting the British film One Life, in which he stars as Nicholas Winton, a World War II huminatarian who rescued more than 600 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II.

Can you picture Anthony Hopkins as a Roman Emperor?