Gladiator told the story of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), a Roman legionnaire who finds himself thrown into the gladiatorial arena by the machinations of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Seeking vengeance against Commodus, Maximus eventually achieves success at the cost of his own life. While in the original Gladiator ending, Maximus lives and goes on with his life, Scott and Crowe felt that Maximus’ death would be more poignant and meaningful. Still, that made it difficult for a sequel to be developed.

Per Deadline, Scott is returning to direct Gladiator 2, working off a script by David Scarpa. Costume designer Janty Yates and production designer Arthur Max are also set to return. Mescal is in negotiations to star as Lucius, son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and nephew of Commodus. In the original film, Lucius was played by Spencer Treat Clark and made his admiration for Maximus known.

Scott had been saying the Gladiator 2 script was nearly finished in 2021, but more news of the project is only materializing now. Rumors had abounded for years that Scott was going to make a sequel to the film. Some of these rumors even stated that Crowe developed a script that would follow Maximus’ story in the underworld, where he would encounter the Roman gods and eventually become immortal.

That sequel didn’t get made, and Scott has instead busied himself with making films such as House of Gucci. It appears that the idea for Gladiator 2 never left his mind, and Universal is once again set to produce the film. The original was a co-production between Dreamworks and Universal, but times have changed, and Dreamworks will not be involved in the sequel.

Scott is something of an old-school director. Like other directors in his cohort, Scott has slammed superhero movies and said he prefers character-driven dramas. Gladiator 2 will state that desire; though the first film was a visual marvel, much of its success was thanks to its interpersonal drama and performances.

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Source: Deadline