He’s resurrected the Xenomorph in time for next month’s Alien: Covenant – after famously declaring that the beast was done/cooked – and it seems Ridley Scott has been swayed about another iconic character of his: General Maximus Decimus Meridius.
It was Russell Crowe who first donned the sword and sandals for Gladiator almost two decades ago – collecting an Oscar for Best Actor in the process – and even to this day, mooted reports of a sequel continue to litter the interwebs. Case in point: ME.Movies (via Screen Rant) caught up with Ridley Scott to talk all things Alien: Covenant, and it wasn’t long before the outlet quizzed the illustrious filmmaker on the status of Gladiator 2.
Last we reported, Scott and musician Nick Cave had drawn up tentative sequel plans that would have involved Maximus returning from the afterlife to confront Christ and his many disciples. It’s quite the departure from the early Roman era, when the unruly Commodus betrayed Maximus and subsequently forced Russell Crowe’s Messiah-like protagonist to rise through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena – “are you not entertained?” – in his quest for revenge.
Bringing Maximus for the dead is clearly priority number one for Ridley Scott and Nick Cave, and here, the former offers a status report on the long-rumored Gladiator 2:
You know I can bring him back, I know how to bring him back. I talked him [Crowe] into how I bring him back. I used the [body] of a dying warrior as a portal to bring somebody back.
It’s certainly an interesting angle to take, and we know from previous reports that Crowe fully intends to introduce a series of Roman deities into Gladiator 2 should the sequel receive the green light from the Powers That Be. So far, there’s nary a mention of any progress on that front, but we’ll keep you updated nevertheless.
Gladiator 2 is still kicking around, but it remains to be seen whether Ridley Scott, Nick Cave and Russell Crowe will have the chance to have a crack at the sequel. Alien: Covenant, meanwhile, slithers into theaters on May 19th.