‘Gladiator’ director and ‘Peaky Blinders’ writer team up for World War II series

Ridley Scott and Steven Knight are developing an epic new drama set during the Second World War.

83-year-old filmmaker Ridley Scott is best known for directing Gladiator, Alien, Robin Hood, and the upcoming King Charles VI drama The Last Duel.

Steven Knight is the writer and creator of Peaky Blinders, who previously collaborated with Scott on Taboo and the BBC’s 2019 adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

The pair are also working together on a new version of Great Expectations for the BBC.

Based on Sir Antony Beevor’s books, their new World War II series Roads to Freedom will dramatise the conflict from several international perspectives.

Deadline reports that “while most Hollywood war films have focused on the American and British effort, Roads to Freedom will portray the brutal realities from multiple viewpoints, with characters not only from the U.S. and UK but also from Russia, Germany, France and other countries across the globe.

“That includes women, and children struggling to survive. The emphasis is on humanity, the characters bound together by one dramatic story.

“Some of the story lines will be discomforting, but heroic, and the race between East and West to capture Berlin will shed light on what became the foundations of the Cold War.”

Steven Knight and Sir Antony Beevor will write the whole ten-part series, while Ridley Scott will direct the first episode.

Roads to Freedom is expected to premiere in 2022.

Knight has plenty on his plate at the moment, with the sixth season of Peaky Blinders filming right now, followed by a Peaky Blinders movie.

He’s also writing a series about Birmingham’s early ’80s music scene, a World War II drama for the BBC about the origins of the SAS, and the long-awaited second season of Taboo.

Ridley Scott is currently planning a sequel to Gladiator too.

Peaky Blinders is available on DVD on Amazon.