Denzel Washington has signed on to play the Carthaginian military legend Hannibal in an as-yet-untitled movie for Netflix.
The streamer announced that the Oscar winner will reunite with his Equalizer franchise director Antoine Fuqua for the project, which is being written by John Logan, who earned an Oscar nomination for another movie set in ancient times, Ridley Scott‘s Gladiator.
Incidentally, with the strike over, Washington is back to work on Gladiator 2, the anticipated sequel also directed by Scott.
According to Netflix, the Hannibal project “covers the pivotal battles he led against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War.”
The war famously saw Hannibal deploying a never-before-seen weapon — battle elephants — in a daring march over the alps to attack the Romans and their Gallic allies. The hulking animals scattered Hannibal’s enemies in the battle of Trebia in December of 218 B.C., scoring a decisive victory for the general.
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