Everything we know about Gladiator 2

“Are you not entertained?” Hopefully you will be soon — as director Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 is finally heading to the big screen.

Despite 24 years having passed since Russell Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius conquered the Colosseum and grabbed the attention of cinema-goers around the world, a follow-up movie based in his sword and sandal world is on the way.

Scott may be 86 years old but the filmmaker’s infamous work ethic shows no signs of slowing as he gathers an impressive cast to take us back to Ancient Rome.

Speaking of which, you may remember that Crowe’s slave-turned-gladiator Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix’s sadistic emperor Commodus both perished in battle at the end of the last movie. With that in mind, it’s likely a safe bet that Scott’s new story will take viewers on a new adventure.

We’ve rounded up all the key information you need to know about Gladiator 2, including its release date, cast and plot details.

When will Gladiator 2 be released?

Gladiator 2 is set for release on Friday, 15 November in UK cinemas.

Is there a trailer for Gladiator 2?

Echoes of the past run through the first trailer for Gladiator 2 which made its way into the online arena in July 2024.

In it, we find ourselves in a new Rome with a new warrior with a score to settle and a pair of sadistic emperors pushing society to its limits for what looks to be their own amusement.

What will happen in Gladiator 2?

Scott's Gladiator sequel will tell a story from Rome's next generation, picking up the story of Lucius, son of Lucilla, a character played by Connie Nielsen in the first film.

According to a report from Vanity Fair, we find Lucius living out his youth far away from Rome in Numidia with the reasons behind his exclusion from both his mother and the Roman Empire remaining murky. We find him with a wife and child before Roman forces eventually close in.

“He’s taken root in a seacoast town in Numidia. He’s a blue-eyed, fair-skinned man with red hair, and he couldn’t be more different from the inhabitants,” explains Scott. “It’s one of the last surviving civilisations, as the Romans begin to descend in North Africa and take it all over.”

At the forefront of this approaching force is Marcus Acacius, a Roman general who trained under Crowe’s Maximus, linking the narrative together with that first film. Of Marcus, Mescal said that he “learned from the best, so of course this code of honour is ingrained into his training and into his existence. But at the end of the day, he’s a different person. And that can’t change who he is.”

With Lucius eventually sent to Rome after a raid of Numidia, he discovers his mother during a battle in the arena. “He doesn’t know whether she’s alive or not,” says Scott. “And there’s his mother in the royal box looking pretty good after 20 years. And she’s with the general who he came face-to-face with on the wall in Numidia.”

Pascal has described the film’s action sequences as “pretty gnarly” with plenty of emotion hiding behind the surfaces of all its conflicts, both physical and psychological.

This matches up with comments Scott recently made to Empire: “We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done,” revealed the director. “Probably bigger than anything in Napoleon.”

Who is in the cast of Gladiator 2?

Aftersun star Paul Mescal plays Lucius, son of Lucilla, the sister to Phoenix’s Commodus who was played by Connie Nielsen in the first film. Nielsen returns to play Lucius once more.

Pedro Pascal plays Marcus Acacius, Lucius’s new enemy and his mother's new partner while his future Fantastic Four co-star Joseph Quinn plays Emperor Geta. Together with Thelma’s Fred Hechinger as Emperor Emperor Caracalla, the pair form the sadistic sibling rulers of new Rome.

Meanwhile, Denzel Washington plays Macrinus, a character described as an “arms dealer” who oversees supplies to Europe. “Instead of having a stable of racehorses, he has a stable of gladiators,” explains Scott.

Matt Lucas, May Calamawy and Lior Raz are also set to star although details of their roles is still under wraps.

It’s still unclear whether Crowe or Phoenix will appear in the sequel but considering their fates in part one, it seems unlikely. Despite this, we can’t quite rule out an appearance via flashback or dream sequence.

Why did Gladiator 2 take so long to make?

A sequel to Gladiator has long been rumoured and there have been many false starts over the years.

Both prequel and sequel ideas were kicked around in the years following Gladiator’s 2000 release, with a handful of screenwriters attached at various points but nothing substantial emerging.

Eventually, singer-songwriter Nick Cave was hired to pen a script that would have taken the story into a more fantastical realm. Joyfully named Christ Killer, Cave’s story would’ve reunited viewers with Maximus in the afterlife where he’s hired by the Roman Gods to return to Earth and stop the rise of Christianity in its tracks by killing Jesus.

The story would’ve eventually brought Crowe’s character through the ages and also various battles — from World War II and Vietnam, right the way up to the present day — but the idea was ultimately never released after Crowe reportedly wasn’t a fan of the idea.

After completing work on his upcoming Napoleon movie, Scott recruited the help of that film’s screenwriter, David Scarpa, to pen a new Gladiator 2 script.

Gladiator 2 will be released in UK cinemas on Friday, 15 November