There was a time I could quote probably 90% of Ridley Scott’s 2000 masterpiece Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe, thanks to having watched the film too many times to count and loving it so much. When I heard that a sequel was in the works, though, I was instantly skeptical. That sequel is just months away now — and while I remain unconvinced that the original, one of the most iconic movies of the 21st century, needed a sequel at all, we’ve got a new sneak peek that’s left me at least mildly intrigued.
First-look images from Gladiator 2 have been released via Vanity Fair, giving us a preview of characters played by Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, and Denzel Washington.
Gladiator 2 is set for a November 22 release and as a reminder of what it’s about — in addition to it being a sequel taking place years after the events of the first movie, the central figure appears to be Mescal’s Lucius. He’s the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla and Russell Crowe’s Maximus from the original Gladiator.
In the new movie, Lucius hadn’t been seen for more than a decade, and he emerges a gladiator like his father (a former general who, of course, was forced into that life after displeasing Joaquin Phoenix’s emperor Commodus). “Decades have passed,” VF explains, “and Lucius has come of age far away from his mother. While he was still a child, Lucilla sent him to the northern coast of Africa, to a region called Numidia that was (at that point) just outside the reach of the Roman Empire. He never fully understood why, and as he grew stronger, so did his resentment — even if his mother’s reasons had been pure.”
Lucius lives in peace in his adopted homeland until Roman conquerors materialize. Pascal, meanwhile, plays Marcus Acacius — a Roman general who trained as a junior officer under Maximus (though we obviously didn’t see him in the original). As for some other major characters: Quinn and Fred Hechinger play brothers who rule Rome as co-emperors, while Washington is on hand as a power-broker who provides the armies in Europe with supplies like wine, steel, and various weapons.
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