'Gladiator' sequel currently in the works

Reports suggest that director Ridley Scott is working on a script for the film

Sir Ridley Scott is working on a Gladiator sequel, a producer on the iconic 2000 film has revealed. Doug Wick said the director is attempting to make a follow-up film but it is proving to be a challenge because nobody wants to make another film just for the sake of it, reported Daily Mail.

“Ridley would love to do it. It's really all about getting something on paper,” Wick was quoted as saying recently. “Everyone (involved with the original) loves the filmtoo much to ever consider cheaply exploiting it and making something that's a shadow of it. It's just really a clear creative problem, working on a script.

Ridley's working on one so it's really just a question of whether we can get it to a place where it feels worthy to make it. That is our real challenge.'Plans for the sequel come despite lead character Maximus Decimus Meridius - played famously by Russell Crowe - being dead. Last year, producers Walter F Parkes and Laurie MacDonald said a sequel would be set 25 to 30 years after the original.

Speaking at the time, Hey U Guys and Men in Black producer MacDonald had said, “We're working with Ridley. Gladiator is one we wouldn't touch unless we felt in a way to do it was legitimate.”

She added, “We're working with an amazing writer as well, Peter Craig.”MacDonald’s husband Walter chimed in, “The sequel picks up the story 30 years later... 25 years later.”

It was previously rumoured that the Gladiator sequel would follow Lucius (SpencerTreat Clark), the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielson) and nephew of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).

The timeline now suggests it would pick up with Lucius as a young adult, but it is unknown whether Spencer would return to the role. Both Walter and Laurie worked as executive producers on the original Gladiator film, which starred Crowe as Maximus, back in the year 2000.

The film garnered an impressive 11 Oscar nominations and five wins, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe. The Australian heartthrob recently admitted he almost turned down Gladiator, but as soon as producer Parkes told him Scott was at the helm, he was intrigued enough to open talks. He said, “I'd read the script and I thought it wasn't a film. But then Parkes said, 'It's 184 A.D., you're a Roman general, and you're going to be directed by Ridley Scott.' And that was enough for me to want to talk to him.”

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