EXCLUSIVE: Jojo Macari and Moe Hashim Talk ‘Those About to Die’ at SDCC

Those About to Die took over San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, July 25. BB got the chance to sit down with other press members to talk with two of the stars of the new Peacock series, Jojo Macari and Moe Hashim.

During our chat, we talked their experience at Comic-Con, working with Sir Anthony Hopkins, filming the series, becoming a gladiator, and so much more. Check out what they had to say below.

On their experience at Comic-Con 2024:

Jojo Macari: “To be honest with you, I haven’t actually managed to make it into the actual convention center yet. Excited to, and already I’m hugely overwhelmed. It’s insane. When you guys do stuff in America, it’s always just so big.”

Moe Hashim: “It’s massive.”

Jojo Macari: “You go for it. That’s cool.”

Hashim on his character, Kwame:

Moe Hashim: “Kind of saying what my character was basically going through. Trauma, pain and slavery. No, I mean, no, it was super important because it’s like we’ve watched a lot of Roman shows and Roman series and North Africa is kind of just put in there just a little part, just so you can know that they existed during that time. So in our story… and not only me, but my family being a very strong pillar in the whole show was so important. And to see, for example, me, thankfully I’m a gladiator who finds his way and becomes successful. But more importantly, you see my mom, who’s played by Sara [Martins], how she kind of maneuvers around the Roman Empire and she finds her way and becomes a very powerful woman and raises us in this crazy world. So it’s very important. It’s very fun to see. It’s very refreshing. And to be honest, since it’s been out a week, that’s the most feedback I’ve been getting of people who’ve been like, ‘Hey, it’s so nice to see a character like yours in this crazy world’.”

On their characters motivations:

Jojo Macari: “Domitian, he’s desperate and obsessed with power and control, and that is essentially what drives 90% of what he does. He feels like he’s been done dirty time and time again throughout his life and his upbringing. And by his father not respecting him in the same way he respects his brother, my brother Titus not respecting me in that way. Kind of feeling like I’ve been sacked off with this role of Aedile Ludi, Master of the Games, which is a very important role in Rome. But he’s the son of the Emperor and he thinks he could be doing more. But obviously that then getting me through the day is how do I get to that power? And there’s a big obstacle in my way and that obstacle is my big bro Titus. So yeah, that’s my big motivation. Screw over a big bro.”

On the training process to become a gladiator:

Moe Hashim: “Man, let me tell you something. We started filming in March. I was in Rome from February training on a daily basis with the other actors who were gladiators. And it’s very intense, very hard on a body. But it’s also living your childhood dreams. You’re running around in these gladiator gear and swinging around the sword. So it was as fun as it was, it was very intense, very hard. We worked with an amazing team in Rome called the EA Stunt Team. And yeah, we came together and we kind of choreographed all these scenes that you see. So it was super fun.”

On what they would like to see if the show is renewed for a season 2:

Jojo Macari: “More evil. More evil. Or” go the other way and become a really nice guy. Repent. Comes back around, starts giving out cookies. I mean the thing is Domitian… He historically is an emperor, or becomes an emperor later on in his life. So obviously that would be kind of nice to see what he gets up to. He did some pretty crazy stuff as an emperor as well, I’ll be honest. So trying to tackle that stuff would be really cool.”

Moe Hashim: “I know what I would want. My character, he is tired, man. He’s tired of fighting. He just wants to live the Roman life. So I feel like maybe in season two I can come out to prison cells with the money that I’ve made and get myself a nice little house. Maybe a wife.”

Jojo Macari: “Relax.”

Moe Hashim: “Yeah, I just want to relax.”

On if they did any research on the Roman Empire prior to filming:

Jojo Macari: “I made a big effort to avoid it to be honest with you. The swords and sandals thing, in finger quotations is… A lot of times people have done it and they’ve done it in very amazing ways. So I think getting in there, I’d be too tempted to pinch stuff and I really, really didn’t want to do that. And then frankly, I’m in the middle of Rome. I’m surrounded by some of the most amazing inspiration you could ever be surrounded by. It’s incredible. I can go and stand in the middle of the Colosseum, or I can go up Palatine Hill and stand in where Domitian would’ve slept. And that gets you in the zone more than going back and watching some telly does.”

Moe Hashim: “Well, I won’t lie to you, I did the opposite. I watched as much movies I could watch a few times actually. I mean for me it’s different because there wasn’t a lot for me to pinch off. It was more to see the spiritual feel, see what some of the characters did, see what it meant, see what it meant to the people in that world. But I’m also a fan of the Roman Empire, so I am just going to watch back things I’ve already watched many times before. But then my character is so unique to who he is that I had to do my own research, my own type of putting together and designing this character called Kwame. So as much as I watched, I did do my own homework to create this person.”

On what it was like to work with the Sir Anthony Hopkins:

Jojo Macari: “I mean obviously a ridiculous honor and pleasure to work with one of the greatest actors of all time. Just amazing. Just amazing. I think the big thing I really learned off Tony is you go… Sorry, Anthony. Well, to be fair, day one, I’m standing there in my toga, quite sweaty and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m with Anthony Hopkins about to walk through that door over there. What am I going to do, what the hell am I going to say’? And I’ve got to just get in the zone because I’ve got to do the job end of the day. And Tony comes in surrounded by a team of people fussing over him. ‘Out of the way. Out of the way’. He comes up to me, ‘Jojo, respect Tony. How’s it going’? He is such a gentleman and he’s so kind and so giving on the set and really makes you feel confident and comfortable to do your best work around him. It was a real pleasure. It was sick.”

On if there a particular scene they were really looking forward to filming?

Moe Hashim: “Oh, hell yeah. The Circus Maximus scenes. The Colosseum scenes. Capturing the white lion. I mean, I had a lot of fun scenes that I was looking really, really forward to, but also fighting this Flamma guy who’s meant to be a 6’10” beast of a man. So yeah, of course the fight scenes because that’s like the kid inside me. I get to run around with a sword and then kill someone.”

Jojo Macari: “I remember you and me were kind of the first two people there. We were the first people to rock up in Rome. And I remember we were chatting and from, we were, ‘I got all this cool stuff we’re going to be doing together, man. Look at all this cool stuff;. And then we went our separate ways and ultimately didn’t film together for a huge portion of the first half of the job. And then actually the last scene I filmed was the scene that we were talking about on the first day, ‘Oh, I’m really excited to go and do that.’ Where I’m trying to make [you eat] You are refusing to eat.”

Moe Hashim: “Refusing and trying to force me to eat.”

Jojo Macari: “Trying to make Kwame eat and, so I try and sort of humiliate him. And it’s a really horrible scene actually. But it was really fun and we got to do some really good playing. It was acting.”

Moe Hashim: “Pretending.”

Jojo Macari: “We did some pretending.”

Those About to Die is currently streaming on Peacock.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.