Hannibal – the historical warrior, not the human-nibbling psychopath – has been a passion project of Vin Diesel's for years. So we’re not sure how he’s going to take the idea of someone putting a TV miniseries out, even if it is Halle Berry. She’s now working with the US History Channel to get the project moving.
The miniseries, which History is hoping will enjoy the same success as its Vikings show, will focus on Hannibal Barca during the Second Punic War. With a script by The Constant Gardener’s Jeffrey Caine, the plot takes viewers through the fierce battles between Carthage and Rome, exploring the relationship between Hannibal and his archrival Scipio Africanus. Despite their fiercely opposed allegiances, the two were (in this version) brought together and grew to respect each other as brothers.
Now that's not exactly in line with the historical account, wherein Hannibal and Scipio met only in battle, but who's counting? Variety also reports that the action will be set in 264 BC, but since that's long before Hannibal was born (in 247 BC) or Scipio (in 236 BC) we're going to assume it's a typo and that they mean something else entirely. As long as there are elephants and Alps, we're interested.
“Hannibal was not only the greatest African general to ever live,” Berry tells Variety, “he may have been the greatest general, period. His story is an intricate and captivating ride and I’m thrilled to get this project off the ground with our partners at History.”
Perhaps Vin can go ahead and see it as keeping the idea warm while he figures out how to get his version up on the big screen.