The rest of the cast signed on over the next several months, and filming took place between June 2023 and January 2024, with a five-month hiatus due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Gladiator II is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 22, 2024.
One character set to return in Ridley Scott's upcoming Gladiator 2 makes the film's Russel Crowe problem worse. The highly-anticipated action sequel is scheduled to release in November 2024 and is expected to not feature the original 2000 film's main protagonist Maximus (Russell Crowe).
The original actor for Lucius, Spencer Treat Clark, will not be reprising his role after Paul Mescal has been cast as the older version of the character.
Gladiator 2 will not showcase the return of Russell Crowe's iconic character Maximus, but Denzel Washington's role is set to provide what is needed to fill that void.
Russell Crowe ended up playing Maximus, but he was not the first choice. Originally, Mel Gibson was offered the chance to star in the movie. Gibson felt he was too old for the part, though, so he decided to decline the opportunity.
She was an elder sister to later Emperor Commodus. Lucilla did have a past romance with Maximus, when they were both young and had not yet married. The relationship ended, however, and Maximus married and had a son, while Lucilla married, had a son and later was widowed.
However, Hounsou cited "circumstances" out of his control as the reason he will no longer star in the epic historical drama sequel. When asked if he's featuring in the sequel, Hounsou said, “Honestly, no. And this was a pure accident in the way it unfolded. I was going to be part of it.
Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal as Lucius. In the 2000 film, Lucius was just a boy, witnessing the heroism of Maximus and the treachery of his uncle, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Lucius' mother Lucilla was played by Connie Nielsen in the original movie.
The gladiator games lasted for nearly a thousand years, reaching their peak between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. Christians disapproved of the games because they involved idolatrous pagan rituals, and the popularity of gladatorial contests declined in the fifth century, leading to their disappearance.
Russell Crowe was 35 years old during the production of Gladiator, and his portrayal of Maximus Decimus Meridius garnered an Oscar win. The film featured a talented cast, including Joaquin Phoenix, who was 24 years old and received recognition for his role as Emperor Commodus.
Aftersun star Paul Mescal will be playing Lucius, the son of Lucilla and nephew of Commodus, who a young Spencer Treat Clark played in the original film.
Joseph Quinn steps in to replace Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator 2. The trailer confirms Quinn's new antagonist role as Emperor Caracalla pays homage to Phoenix's Commodus in the original film. Quinn's transition from playing heroes to portraying a villain in the sequel marks a significant change.
"I was confident about my abilities as a leading man," Crowe said (via Variety). "What I wasn't confident about with Gladiator was the world that was surrounding me. At the core of what we were doing was a great concept but the script, it was rubbish, absolute rubbish. And it had all these sorts of strange sequences."
I had to ride in Gladiator, of course, and I think I am right in saying that every time you saw Maximus on horseback, it was really me. My horse in Gladiator was George, a really clever animal who knew what was expected of him.
Filming for Gladiator 2 began in June 2023, primarily in Morocco, with additional filming taking place in Malta and the United Kingdom. With production underway, we were able to see some behind-the-scenes footage. Morocco's Minister of Culture, Mohammed Mehdi Bensaid, shared a glimpse of the highly anticipated sequel.
Gladiator 2 is the follow-up to Ridley Scott's award-winning film Gladiator from 2000. Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal staring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington and Barry Keoghan as the villain Emperor Geta.
Before Crowe was cast as Maximus, several other actors were considered for the role, including Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson, and Tom Cruise. However, producers had Crowe at the top of their list after his breakout performance in L.A. Confidential (1997).
Lucilla was the former lover of Russell Crowe's Maximus and Lucius is his son. In a recent interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Scott offered some brief insight into Mescal's character in the film which takes place almost two decades after the events of the original.
In the same sequence, Maximus tells a mocking Quintus "dirt cleans off a lot easier than blood." Rubbing and smelling the dirt before each fight connects Maximus to his home and his family. Moreover, the ritual pushes Maximus through each deadly conflict.
Lucilla was Commodus's sister and was married to her father's co-emperor Lucius Verus (mentioned in the film as the dead father of her son Lucius Verus, but not seen or mentioned as co-emperor), until his death in AD 169.
Although the fate of Maximus' pet is ambiguous in Gladiator, it likely would've been killed by Commodus' guards when Maximus gets arrested and sentenced to death. This is an animal that fought by its owner's side on the battlefield, and would never let Maximus be dragged to his death without making a fuss.
“Are you not entertained?” Although this famous line uttered by Russell Crowe as the gladiator Maximus in the movie Gladiator was set in Rome, filming did not take place inside the original Colosseum. The director, Ridley Scott, built a replica of the Colosseum in Malta.
The main character Maximus is not real, however. Instead, the creation of this character is influenced by several different figures from Ancient Rome. The character of Maximus in Gladiator is mostly based on Roman generals, as well as the gladiators themselves and the life they led.
