When Does Those About to Die Season 2 Come Out? Is It Renewed?

What is Those About to Die about?

Those About to Die squanders a genuinely interesting premise by spending most of its time on palace intrigue and romance rather than on the world it claims to want to explore. The show follows an ensemble cast across Roman society during Vespasian's reign, with the gladiatorial arena as backdrop rather than center. Anthony Hopkins plays the aging emperor, Tom Hughes his ambitious son, and a collection of other characters navigate political betrayal, business dealings, and personal vendettas. There is real potential here: the intersection of sports gambling, political power, and brutal entertainment is rich territory. The show just does not seem sure it wants to mine it.

What makes Those About to Die distinctive is also what hobbles it. Robert Rodat (who wrote Saving Private Ryan) clearly wanted to treat the gladiatorial world as seriously as The Wire treated Baltimore, giving equal weight to emperors and enslaved fighters and wealthy merchants all operating within the same corrupt system. But the script keeps pulling away from its own best instincts. A subplot involving a slave turned charioteer has genuine stakes and momentum, then gets forgotten. The political scheming between Vespasian and his sons follows predictable patterns. You can sense the show wanting to do something bold and settling for something safer.

The ten-episode first season landed on Peacock to mixed indifference. Critics appreciated the production design and Hopkins's presence but found the plotting scattered and the character work uneven. The show ended after one season, which feels appropriate given its inability to find a consistent center of gravity. It never quite makes a case for why you should care about its world beyond the spectacle of watching one of our greatest actors in Roman robes.

Created by Robert Rodat

Is Those About to Die renewed or cancelled?

Why did Those About to Die end?

Those About to Die arrived on Peacock as a ten-episode limited series in July 2024, and that's exactly how it concluded. The show was designed as a single, self-contained season from the start, not a victim of cancellation but a planned limited run. Creator Roland Emmerich structured the series to tell a complete story about gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome across those ten episodes, with a definite endpoint rather than an open-ended narrative designed to sustain multiple seasons.

The critical reception was mixed at best. The show earned a 6.7 rating on IMDb, suggesting it found an audience but failed to generate the kind of enthusiasm that might have pushed Peacock to greenlight a continuation. For a streaming series in an expensive historical drama genre, that middle-ground reception probably didn't help its case. Still, since the show was always planned as a limited series, its conclusion was predetermined regardless of how viewers and critics responded. This was Emmerich completing the project he set out to make, not Peacock deciding the investment wasn't worth extending.

Limited series have become a standard format for streamers, allowing them to deliver prestige drama without the commitment of an ongoing production. Those About to Die followed that model intentionally, delivering its ten hours and ending as scheduled. The show had its moment on the platform and moved on, which is how these things are supposed to work.

Those About to Die Season 2 Release Date

Best & worst episodes

Those About to Die seasons

Those About to Die trailer

Where to watch Those About to Die

Peacock PremiumstreamPeacock Premium Plusstream

Those About to Die latest news