Who is Hannibal that Denzel Washington is playing in a Netflix movie?

News has broke that Denzel Washington will again team up with longtime creative partner Antoine Fuqua for a historical epic.

The film is a planned Netflix project, and will see Washington play the Carthaginian general, Hannibal. For those unaware, Hannibal is regarded as one of history’s greatest military commanders, and one of the gravest threats the Roman Republic ever faced.

Denzel Washington and Netflix will bring to life one of history’s most fascinating and accomplished military leaders

According to Variety, the Netflix feature will be written by John Logan, the same writer who penned Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. (Interestingly enough, Denzel Washington is also in Gladiator 2.) The movie will capture Hannibal’s most significant victories against Rome during the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), a conflict which saw the Carthaginian commander accomplish the impossible feat of crossing his massive army, which included over 30 elephants, through the Alps, bypassing outlying Roman defenses, and catching his foes off guard on the Italian Peninsula.

While Carthage inevitably lost the Second Punic War, with many attributing this defeat to Hannibal’s reluctance to attack Rome itself while fighting on the Italian Peninsula, the general’s name still became cemented in the annals of history. Hannibal’s command ability, expert use of war elephants, and the consecutive string of victories over his arch-rivals allowed his name to live on even after great defeat. Essentially, when studying Rome’s greatest setbacks and losses, Hannibal of Carthage will always be at the top of that list.

There is currently no release date for this project.