'Gladiator 2' is finally happening!

The blockbuster hit film is back after 23 long years with a sequel and a new star

After 23 long years, the much-acclaimed film Gladiator is finally returning to the big screens with a sequel! According to Deadline, the lauded director Ridley Scott is ready to bring fans another masterpiece that will blow their minds.

The first Gladiator film hit theatres in 2000 and instantly became a blockbuster hit. It also bagged a huge win at the Oscars, bagging five awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for star Russell Crowe, who was the leading actor in the epic historical motion picture.

The new film, however, stars a new but similar face, Paul Mescal. The Irish actor is best known for his role in the Hulu limited series Normal People and the critically acclaimed 2022 film, Aftersun. Gladiator 2 will be Mescal's first big break in a major studio production, which will help elevate his acting career to a new level.

In the first Gladiator movie, Russell Crowe's Maximus Decimus Meridius was the protagonist of a historical epic about valor, political turmoil, and retribution. Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix, murders his father and ascends to the throne before ordering the cruel execution of Maximus and his family. Maximus manages to get away and ends up in the hands of a guy who organizes gladiator fights, which sets off his brutal mission to assassinate Commodus and get retribution.

While most of the details about the follow-up are still under wraps, Mescal will portray Lucius, the nephew of Phoenix's Commodus in the first film and the son of Connie Nielsen's Lucilla. Years after Maximus's triumph that ensured the safety of Lucius and Lucilla in the first movie, Lucius, as a grown adult will now carry on the storyline and face new challenges in his life.

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