Ridley Scott’s Gladiator Sequel Finds Its Lead

It’s been 23 years since the release of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, but the film remains to be one of the most celebrated in Russell Crowe’s filmography. News of a sequel had been coming in and out the past few years, and now it looks like the follow-up has found its lead.

Deadline reports that Paul Mescal (Normal People, Aftersun) has been cast as the lead for the Gladiator follow-up. Though the story of Maximus may be done, this follow-up is said to be following the tale of Lucius, the son of Lucilla (who was played by Connie Nielsen in the original Gladiator).

Scott himself will also come back to helm the movie, right after he wraps up on the Napoleon biopic—which also stars Joaquin Phoenix, who was the main antagonist of Gladiator.

When Gladiator came out back in 2000, it started a sort of trend for these large-scale ancient epics. In the next few years, we would have gotten the release of Troy, King Arthur, Kingdom of Heaven, and of course, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies.

With the Gladiator title, I expect the movie would continue with the same canon as the original films, updating us as to what happened with Rome after Maximus ends up killing the emperor in gladiatorial combat. Would the practice still be continued? Will there be a new love for gladiators, or will the movie follow the end of the tradition?

With Ridley Scott still at the helm, I’m expecting things to pretty much keep to the tone of the original movie. Hopefully we don’t have to wait too long until the release.