Paramount Pictures has finally shared the first trailer for Gladiator 2, the long-anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s legendary classic from the 2000s with the director once again at the helm.
As we covered in our previous report, the film is a direct sequel to the 2000-released film with Paul Mescal as protagonist Lucius, the son of Lucilla – Maximus’ original lover. In the original film both were saved from the corrupt Emperor Commodus by Maximus.
Due to concerns for his life Lucius was sent to Numidia, a northern region of Africa just out of reach from the Roman Empire. Various events see Lucius return to Rome as a gladiator where he naturally makes new enemies and reunites with his mother.
To further connect the sequel to the original film Pedro Pascal stars as Marcus Acacius, a general who trained under original protagonist Maximum Decimus Meridius (played by Russell Crowe in the original film). Denzel Washington also stars as Macrinus, a wealthy owner and trainer of gladiators, as well as Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger as the corrupt twin emperors of Rome.
In a round of post-production interviews Ridley Scott told Vanity Fair that he became a fan of Mescal after seeing his breakout performance in the 2020 drama series Normal People. The two barely spoke before Scott decided to make Mescal his lead actor in the sequel film. Mescal reportedly bulked up so much for the film that he was terrifying to face in combat scenes when shooting.
When shooting the scenes with Acacius (Pascal) fighting Lucius (Mescal) the former gave the latter a nickname: “Brick Wall Paul.”
“He got so strong. I would rather be thrown from a building than have to fight him again,” Pascal said. “To go up against somebody that fit and that talented and that much younger…. Outside of Ridley being a total genius, Paul is a big reason as to why I would put my poor body through that experience.”
Here’s the first trailer for Gladiator 2:
Scott is directing and producing the sequel alongside his Scott Free Productions president Michael Pruss, as well as Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher from Red Wagon Entertainment. Other key returning staff are costume designer Janty Yates and production designer Arthur Max.
Gladiator 2 is set to premiere exclusively on theaters later this year, on November 22nd.
