Ray Stevenson has a gold ring on his finger with the Roman numerals XIII inscribed on it. “When I started Rome they gave me a brass ring for the XIIIth Legion,” he told me. “I went out and had a gold one made.”
Stevenson’s connection to Titus Pullo, his character from the cancelled HBO show, runs deep. He wears that ring every single day. But he’s not quite jumping for joy at the latest rumors about Rome becoming a movie. “We don’t have six or seven seasons behind us like Sex and the City,” he said to me at a cocktail reception before tonight’s screening of Punisher: War Zone*. “We don’t have that behind us.”
But Stevenson did meet with Rome creator Bruno Heller last week, and they did talk about bringing Rome back. Heller is committed to his series, The Mentalist, Stevenson said, so that could delay things. And even if a movie did get off the ground, Stevenson isn’t sure if it would be on HBO or in theaters. Either way, there’s a lot of ground to cover. “We didn’t quite get to year zero,” he said. “We could be dealing with a new religion that is challenging an older religion and the order of things. If you know what I mean.”
As much as Stevenson loved Rome, he takes its premature cancellation well. He pointed to the poster for Punisher: War Zone in the corner of the reception. “I’m like Titus Pullo,” he said. “I ended up where the gods meant me to be.”
* which was totally fucking awesome.