Over two decades on from the Gladiator film, which won director Ridley Scott the Academy Award for Best Picture, he is bringing us a sequel. The first film followed Russell Crowe’s character, General Maximus Decimus Meridius, as he goes up against a tyrannical emperor in the form of Joaquin Pheonix’s Commodus. Now audiences are set to return to Ancient Rome for another epic story with a new cast which includes Denzel Washington.
Ever since the success of the first film, a success that placed it up there with other epic films set around the same time such as Ben-Hur and Spartacus, there have been whispers and rumors of a sequel. Well, now the people shall have it, as Scott returns to direct the historic drama with Paul Mescal cast in the lead. Cast alongside Mescal is also Barry Keoghan, rumored to play Emporer Geta, and Washington, whose role in the film is yet unknown.
Though we don’t know what role Washington is in, we can surmise that it will include a fair amount of action as the actor told Entertainment Tonight that “I’m in that gym lifting weights every day, training, getting ready.” He says the preparations are due to being “on my way to Gladiator land.”
Though the plot of the film is still relatively unknown, it is reported to follow the story of one of the characters of the first film, young Lucius. In Gladiator he was played by Spencer Treat Clark and was the young nephew of Commodus who was saved by Maximus, an action that has left a deep imprint on him it would seem. He grows up wanting not to rule but to search for the same heroism he saw from Maximus in the Galdiator’s ring.
Gladiator 2 is set to be released in theatres on Nov. 22, 2024.