It’s a bad time to be related to a muscly Paul Mescal – the second Gladiator 2 trailer sees the Normal People star out for revenge.
Update: Gladiator 2 has a new trailer – the second one to be precise. It features altogether less rapping than the first one (see the original post below), but broadly the same amounts of Paul Mescal fighting his way through ancient Rome with his big, brawny arms. Oh, and baboons. Lots of baboons.
Gladiator 2 is out in UK cinemas on the 22nd November. In the meantime, here’s that shiny new trailer.
Our original story follows…
Original story 9th July 2024: We’ve finally got our first peek at Gladiator 2, and it looks nuts. The colosseum’s been transformed into a boating lake, there’s a siege going on at a big city, and the Roman empire might just be about to collapse.
Oh, and it seems Ridley Scott’s been on a shopping spree at the local zoo. As if the reported showdown with a gaggle of baboons wasn’t enough, now it looks like poor Paul Mescal’s been sent to fight a rhino.
But don’t take our word for it (we might have just hallucinated it anyway). Take a look at the Gladiator 2 trailer below:
Earlier in the week, Paramount got us all rather excited with a first look at some new characters and a poster – the latter of which sees Paul Mescal having a lovely old time in Rome’s famous sandpit.
The sequel to Scott’s 2000 epic is set a few decades after the first film, and finds Marcus Aurelius’ grandson, Lucius (Mescal) living a peaceful life in Numidia (somewhere around modern-day Algeria) with his wife and child. We hope nothing bad happens to them!
When the Roman army invades (oh) Lucius is sold into slavery and winds up as a gladiator. Inspired by our pal Maximus’ story from the first film, he decides to oppose the rule of young emperors Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) and Geta (Joseph Quinn). By killing lots of people by a sword, presumably.
The sequel also stars Pedro Pascal as Roman general (and, we’d guess, from the trailer, wrong ‘un) Marcus Acacius, and Denzel Washington as Macrinus – an arms dealer who keeps a stable of gladiators. Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou and Derek Jacobi are set to reprise their roles from the previous film.
The first Gladiator was a bit of a hit with audiences and critics, becoming the second highest-grossing film of 2000 and winning five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor (for Russell Crowe – he played the gladiator, if we haven’t mentioned that already).
This isn’t the first time a sequel’s been in development, either. As early as 2001, Gladiator screenwriter John Logan was hired to write a script centered around an older Lucius in a Rome under the rule of the Praetorian Guard. This version apparently involved Maximus being resurrected from the dead, and presumably paved the way for Nick Cave’s infamous 2006 script, which would have seen an immortal Maximus pulled out of purgatory to kill Jesus and fight in the Vietnam war (yes, really).
This version of the script looks slightly less bonkers, but we couldn’t be more excited. We’re ready to be entertained, indeed.
Gladiator 2 arrives in UK cinemas on 22nd November.
