Gladiator 2 Trivia | 40 facts about the upcoming movie

Gladiator 2 is an upcoming epic historical drama directed by Ridley Scott, serving as a sequel to Gladiator, which was released back in 2000.

Let’s find out more about the movie!

Gladiator 2 is an upcoming epic historical drama.
It was directed by Ridley Scott.
It serves as a sequel to Gladiator (2000).
It will be produced by Scott Free Productions for Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures.
According to the official synopsis: After being saved by Maximus in Gladiator, Lucius, the nephew of Commodus, is now a grown man.
Director Sir Ridley Scott and the team behind Gladiator (2000) have spoken about making a sequel at one point or another. But lead actor Russell Crowe is quite skeptical of the possibility of ‘Gladiator 2’ happening, in which Crowe states: “If they’re having conversations about that, those conversations haven’t included me. I’m not sure what they have in mind. At all… Can I just say, with a pinch of salt, they have genuinely been having the same conversations since the year 2000.”
When he later learned that the movie would proceed with Paul Mescal in the lead, he congratulated the actor while also admitting that he was slightly jealous.
The prospect of making ‘Gladiator 2’ have been complicated by the fact that the titular gladiator character, Maximus Decimus Meridius played by Russell Crowe, died at the end of the original film.
According to Crowe, the studio’s idea for getting around that problem was to take a leaf out of the Bible. In an interview with Screen Rant he said: “I haven’t talked to [producer] Doug [Wick] in a long, long time. Last time I talked to Doug, he said he had this great idea where Maximus gets carried from the stadium and they pull back this big rock and he gets put into this cave and then the rock closes over and he’s anointed with oils. And then the rock opens up and he comes out. And I said, “Doug, I don’t think we have the rights to that story.” But that was a long, long time ago and I don’t think he appreciated my sense of humor at the time.”
Once Paul Mescal was locked for the project, Scott and Paramount Pictures President & CEO Brian Robbins and Co-Presidents Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland pushed hard for a star for the other major role in the film and took a shot with Denzel Washington, the two-time Oscar winner.
When the offer was first presented there it was unknown whether he would actually do it; Washington is known for his great taste in projects and doesn’t sign up for just anything. But after having previously worked with Ridley Scott on American Gangster (2007) and reading the script, sources close to the project said he was excited about the bad-ass role Scott had conceived with him in mind. A meeting with Scott soon followed, and after the director gave his pitch, Washington was all but on board.
One would think a sequel to Gladiator (2000), the logical solution would be to make a story about Maximus’ descendants, akin to what happened with The Godfather (1972).
But the success of the original film rested a great deal on the shoulders of Russell Crowe’s Academy Award-winning performance as Maximus, and since then, many attempts have been made to keep Maximus in the sequel.
One screenplay that can be read online sees Maximus arriving in the afterlife, while another idea would have focused partially on Maximus’ life prior to Gladiator (2000), and the remainder on his exploits in the afterlife.
Based on director Sir Ridley Scott’s comments from a 2019 interview, he was determined to continue with the tale of the character of Maximus in the sequel: “I know how to bring him back. I was having this talk with the studio, but he’s dead. But there is a way of bringing him back. Whether it will happen I don’t know. Gladiator was 2000, so Russell’s changed a little bit. He’s doing something right now but I’m trying to get him back down here.”
In the end, it was chosen to continue the story with the character of Lucius, played by Spencer Treat Clark in Gladiator (2000) but re-cast with Paul Mescal, and possibly finding a cameo appearance for Crowe.
In the years following the release of the first film there were numerous attempts to write a sequel. Musician Nick Cave was invited to draft a version by Russell Crowe and Sir Ridley Scott.
His version focused on the more mythical elements of Ancient Rome and would have seen Maximus arrive in the afterlife, only to be faced with other souls who are yet to ascend further. He is eventually tasked by Jupiter and other Roman deities to return to earth to find and kill Hephaestus, a former deity who has betrayed them. From there, he is resurrected as a Christian and finds himself journeying back to Rome, on a mission to stop Christianity from spreading, while crossing paths with the new Emperor, Lucius.
The movie would have ended with Maximus being cursed to live for an eternity, featuring a montage of the soldier battling through the Crusades, World War II, and the Vietnam War, eventually revealing a modern-day Maximus working at the Pentagon in Washington. The studio decided not to go through with this version, but the script is available to read online.
Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal previously starred in The Equalizer 2 (2018).
During the first week of filming, a planned stunt has left six crew members with non-threatening burn injuries on the Morocco shoot of Paramount’s Gladiator 2. No details of how the reported fire stunt went sideways were provided. Four of the six remain in the hospital. The incident occurred on June 7, 2023.
It was reported that Timothée Chalamet, Miles Teller, Austin Butler, Richard Madden and Paul Mescal met or auditioned for director Sir Ridley Scott.
Paul Mescal was one of the firsts and left a lasting impression on Scott. Mescal was eventually cast in the lead role.
Barry Keoghan was originally cast as Emperor Geta but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Fred Hechinger replaced him.
Paramount Pictures spokesperson states , “While filming a planned stunt sequence on the set of the Gladiator sequel, an accident occurred during which several crew members experienced non-life-threatening injuries.
The safety and full medical services teams on-site were able to act quickly so that those who were impacted immediately received necessary care. As of June 7, 2023, they are all in stable condition and continue to receive treatment.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead turned down a role due to her long acting hiatus after she finishes filming the Paramount+ miniseries, A Gentleman in Moscow, which is said to be her final television appearance. The role Mary turned down went to May Calamawy.
Paul Mescal’s numerous shirtless scenes and buff physique in the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” on London’s West End convinced Paramount Studio execs Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland to give Mescal the lead role. Cercek said, “He played Stanley, and there are several moments where he takes off his shirt and it was electric. The ladies in the audience were very vocal, and we were like, ‘I think we’ve found our guy.'”
First joint venture between Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures since Angela’s Ashes (1999)
Denzel Washington and Fred Hechinger both worked with Gladiator star Russell Crowe.
Third collaboration between Sir Ridley Scott and screenwriter David Scarpa.
Production was expected to begin in May 2023, with Ouarzazate, Morocco set as a filming location.
Set construction began in the city in April.
Filming began in June 2023 with additional filming locations planned for Malta and the United Kingdom over the following four months.
Filming was suspended in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.
It was due to resume on December 4 in Malta.
The production received nearly €47 million in film incentive rebates from Malta.
It set a record for the largest rebate issued for a film production in the European Union.
In January 2024, it was revealed that Harry Gregson-Williams had composed the score for the film.
Gladiator 2 is scheduled to be released in the United States and Canada by Paramount Pictures on November 22, 2024, and internationally by Universal Pictures.