Maybe it is anticipation of Gladiator II’s release, or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve recently been to Rome for what feels like the hundredth time, but I’m currently experiencing a moment of hyper-fixation on Ancient Rome.
And that means that in addition to revisiting some great favorites like the original gladiator and HBO’s short-lived but still amazing RomeI also watched the latest historical drama from Prime Video, Those who are about to die.
I still maintain that no other series about ancient Rome comes anywhere close Rome’s unique combination of wild historical inaccuracy and somehow perfect spiritual understanding of what the late days of the Republican era were like, Those who are about to die is brilliantly entertaining. It hits all the cliches – mad emperors, devious nobles, cunning crime bosses, gratuitous nudity, bloody gladiator fights and adrenaline-fuelled chariot races.
But let me tell you what I liked most about Those who are about to die It slowly became clear that his protagonist is none other than Shadow and Bone’s Kaz Brekker, Ancient Rome Edition.
Let me explain. One of the main characters in the series is Tenax, played by Iwan Rheon, known from Ramsay Bolton. After a particularly difficult past that included a lot of trauma, he worked his way up in the underworld of Rome and now owns the biggest betting house in the city, where he makes big money from the chariot races in the Circus Maximus. He also hopes to start his own racing faction, which would be the first to be owned by a man of the people rather than a noble and ancient patrician family.
And Tenax has all the traits you would expect from a character with this particular background: calculating, ruthless, sarcastic, and seemingly indifferent to anything that has nothing to do with money and profit.
Does that sound familiar? Maybe like someone who famously said, “My father is profit. I honor him daily”? That actually sounds like a set of Kaz Brekker-like traits to me. And sure, it’s not such an unusual character type – but that’s not all.
Enter Cala, played by Sara Martins, a woman with daggers in her hair who has traveled to Rome from Numidia to search for her three children, all of whom were taken as slaves by Roman soldiers. She begins working for Tenax to stay close to one of these children and keep an eye on the other two. Over time, she reveals herself to be an incredibly smart businesswoman – so much so that Tenax’s betting business flourishes even more under her management than it already was. Tenax begins to look at her as if she hung the stars in the sky, and becomes excessively concerned about her for someone who supposedly only cares about herself.
And maybe I am nothing more than a convinced Grishaverse fan who has lived in Leigh Bardugo’s world for nearly ten years, but this all seems very Kanej-esque to me. Add to that the fact that Tenax runs through the final episodes of the series with the help of a cane after a nasty encounter with his enemies, and you really have the complete picture of a Kaz Brekker variant.
So to all Grishaverse Fans who might miss their beloved Bastard of the Barrel – since it doesn’t look like a new book will be released anytime soon and Netflix has done what Netflix does best, and Shadows and Bones after two seasons – try to see if The King of Suburbia fills at least part of that gap. That is, unless Prime Video decides to make another My Lady Jane and canceled Those who are about to die as well as.
