A New First Look At ‘Gladiator 2’ Ahead Of Its Release Date

Gladiator remains one of my all-time favorite films, but even I’ve been skeptical of the idea that it needs a sequel, even one directed by Ridley Scott. But Gladiator 2 is coming, and we finally have some new content outside of plot summaries and cast lists.

Vanity Fair has new first look photos of the movie, which has a current release date of November 22, 2024, not all that far away now. Here we see Paul Mescal and the omnipresent Pedro Pascal.

And then Stranger Things/Fantastic Four’s Joseph Quinn and Denzel Washington:

As a refresher, here’s the summary that we’ve heard so far about the content of the film, which takes places well after the original Russell Crowe tale:

• Paul Mescal is Lucius from the first film, who hasn’t been seen in 15 years and is presumed dead. This likely leads into him becoming a gladiator where no one knows who he was in his past life.
• Pascal is a military commander turned gladiator as punishment.
• Denzel is a former slave who is now a wealthy merchant who does not like the emperors.
• Quinn is co-emperor Caracalla who is supposedly trying to portray a character differently from Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus.
• Connie Nielsen appears to be the lone returning major cast member from the original, playing Lucius’ mother Lucilla.

It’s unknown if Phoenix or Crowe could show up in some sort of flashback or dream sequence or something, but the idea is that it primarily focuses on the new cast and Mescal’s Lucius in particular. I am curious about the photos showing Mescal fighting Pascal, as that either seems like A) Pascal may be dying early or B) we’re seeing a climactic fight of the movie. As almost always, one of those two should be dead at the end of that, though perhaps not if a thumbs up from the emperor is involved.

Ridley Scott has had an interesting filmography these past years. His last major film, Napoleon, was not terribly well-received and had a press tour with Scott pushing back hard on whether historical accuracy matters or not. But he’s also made The Last Duel, The Martian and did two episodes of the incredible Raised by Wolves, so hopefully this will go well. I’m looking forward to it either way, as I mean I can’t not watch it, no matter how it may affect my perception of the first film. Again, it’s out on November 22.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.