Summary
Gladiator 2releases its first images, finally unveiling characters played by Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and more. After the success of his first film in 2000, director Ridley Scott is set to return to the gladiatorial arena with an upcoming sequel starring Mescal as a grown-up Lucius. TheGladiator 2castfeatures an impressive roster of actors, including the returning Connie Nielsen, and newcomers Pascal, Denzel Washington, Fred Hechinger, and Joseph Quinn.
Now,Vanity Fairreleases the first images fromGladiator 2, showcasing characters played by Mescal, Pascal, Washington, Quinn, Hechinger, and Nielsen. Check them out below:
The images tease a bloody fight between Mescal and Pascal’s General Acacius, the latter of whom is revealed to have trained under Russell Crowe’s Maximus. Washington, meanwhile, will be playing an arms dealer named Macrinus, while Quinn plays Emperor Geta. Fred Hechinger is also featured in the images as Emperor Caracalla.
Gladiator 2 Is Bringing Back Dynamics From The Original Movie
Some New Characters Occupy Familiar Roles
The originalGladiatorremains one of Scott’s most iconic and beloved films, and making a sequel 24 years later is evidently not an easy task. Like any sequel,Scott’sGladiator 2will have the challenging task of recapturing the elements that made the original so successful while also pushing the story in a new direction. From the images released thus far, there will be a number of familiar character dynamics returning.
The two emperors, for example, who are brothers, already appear in the images to be quite frail emotionally, much in the same way Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus was. This doesn’t mean, however, that they can’t still be immensely dangerous. Washington’s Macrinus, too, occupies a similar role to Oliver Reed’s Proximo. Proximo was a slave owner in the originalGladiator, but he was not without honor, and he eventually came to help Maximus. Macrinus has become a rich man by supplying food and weapons to Roman armies in Europe, but he also owns his own gladiator fighters.
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Acacius, on the other hand, is very much positioned as Lucius' physical equal. Acacius, theVanity Fairarticle reveals, is a violent man and an efficient killer, but one with many regrets. Like the Maximus versus Commodus duel, the fight between Lucius and Acacius could be a climactic one. With theseGladiator 2images having now been released, the first trailer for the movie likely isn’t far off.
Gladiator II
Cast
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 Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Gladiator 2 had been stuck in development hell for years before a script written by David Scarpa finally moved forward.
