After decades of rumor, speculation, and false-starts, a sequel toGladiatoris now coming this year, and it sounds like it will have been well worth the wait. According toDeadline, returning director Ridley Scott has caught theGladiatorlightning in a bottle all over again, with studio executives having now seen early footage from the swords-and-sandals sequel and being blown away.
“Scott recently wrapped production on the sequel to his smash hit Gladiator and, according to sources, early footage has blown execs away,” the report claims.
Directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa,Gladiator 2will serve as a sequel to the critically acclaimed, Academy Award-winning Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe.Gladiator 2will not include Crowe, whose character Maximus was killed at the end of the first movie, instead being led byAftersunstar Paul Mescal as Lucius Verus, the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla and nephew to Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus.
While plot details remain largely under wraps, Scott has revealed thatGladiator 2will pick up with Lucius around 15 years after the first movie, with the character having been living “in the wilderness” with no connection with his mother.
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 Is a ‘Magnificent Spectacle,’ According to Lucilla Star Connie Nielsen
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 is shaping up to be another epic feature, says Connie Nielsen.
Gladiator 2has been stuck in development for years, with the project having initially entered development way, way back in 2001. While the idea for the sequel had at first involved bringing backCrowe as an immortal eternal warriorand following him in battles across time (in quite possibly the greatest movie never made), the long-awaited sequel is expected instead to follow Lucius as he finds himself at the center of another conflict between politicians and warriors, while discovering things about himself.
Gladiator 2 Features an All-Star Cast Including Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal & More
Ridley Scott has amassed a stellar cast to bring his next epic to life. Alongside Paul Mescal in the lead,Gladiator 2stars Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, May Calamawy, Connie Nielsen, Derek Jacobi, and Hollywood icon Denzel Washington as a former slave-turned-wealthy arms dealer.
Scott has previously offered an abundance of detail regarding the character that Oscar winnerDenzel Washington will play in the sequel, revealing that he was once a gladiator and has now amassed vast wealth while vying for power amid a chaotic empire.
“There’s a parallel character, the owner of a business that supplied weapons for the Romans, who supplied the oil when they traveled, who supplied the wine they drink. They wouldn’t drink water, they drank wine. When they traveled, who would supply wagons and horses and tack? There had to be the arms dealers of the period; here is a man who already rich from supplying the weapons, the catapults. His hobby is like a racing stable except it’s gladiators. He’s got a stable of 30 or 40 gladiators.
He likes to actually see them fight and it evolves that that’s where he came from. He was captured in North Africa, and evolved into a free man because he was a good gladiator. But he hides that because also he’s now realizing the potential of his actual power. He’s wealthier than most senators, so already has thoughts and designs of the possible idea of taking power from these two crazy princes.”
Gladiator 2is scheduled to be released in theaters on August 25, 2025.
Gladiator II
Gladiator 2 is the follow-up to Ridley Scott’s award-winning film Gladiator from 2000. Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal staring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Gladiator 2 had been stuck in development hell for years before a script written by David Scarpa finally moved forward.
