Gladiator 2: Everything We Know About the Year’s Most Anticipated Sequel?
Everything we know so far about Gladiator 2, the highly anticipated sequel coming to theaters in November 2024. The first, adrenaline-filled images of the official trailer have thrilled, excited, and enthralled us: the sequel to the 2000 cinematic masterpiece directed by Sir Ridley Scott and winner of 5 Oscars is about to hit theaters around the world. Gladiator 2, the second chapter coming to theaters in November 2024, is still directed by the tireless British director but is set many years after the events of the immortal post-modern peplum starring the iconic Russell Crowe in the role of Maximus Decimus Meridius. On the occasion of the release of the film’s first official trailer, here’s everything we know about Gladiator II, from the locations used to reconstruct the impressive Rome at the time of the reign of Geta and Caracalla, to the cast and characters (some real, some fictional), up to the impressive budget and release date of what is already shaping up to be one of the most eagerly awaited feature films of the second half of 2024 in a dark theater.
Hail, Ridley Scott, those who are about to die to salute you! We are dying to see it, understandably, because Gladiator 2 is coming out soon and, although Russell Crowe is no longer around to deliver sword strokes in the role of Maximus Decimus Meridius, the replacements that the English director has found are, at the very least, as imperial as that budget of 310 million dollars. Paul Mescal (Normal People) and Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) will take up arms at the Colosseum, leading a star-studded cast that includes some of the actors from the 2000 film. After hearing the Chilean-American praise his colleague’s muscles, the only thing left to wonder is whether either of them will be able to repeat their predecessor’s feat: traveling from Germany to Extremadura on horseback in less than 24 hours.
What is Gladiator 2 About?
The film is the sequel to the cult movie by Ridley Scott, directed once again by the same director from a screenplay by David Scarpa and a story by David Scarpa and Peter Craig; the film, set 15 years after the previous one, has its protagonist Lucio Vero (Paul Mescal), a child at the time of the first film and son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), as well as nephew of Commodus. Now an adult and married, Vero has lived for years in Numidia (East Africa) where his mother had sent him years before to protect him from the dangers of the Eternal City. But soon, Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), a valiant Roman general, is sent to the continent to capture Vero and bring him back to Rome. Taken prisoner, Lucio will have to reinvent himself as a fighter in the gladiatorial arena, just like his mentor, Maximus Decimus Meridius.
As we learned from the first, impressive scenes of the official trailer, Lucio Vero is captured in Numidia, to then be transported as a slave to Rome; forced to fight as a gladiator, the man will have to try to survive in a corrupt city, whose power, formally in the hands of the imperial authority, seems in fact exercised by the figure of Macrino (Denzel Washington), an arms dealer intent on conquering Rome from within, to destroy it. In the meantime, even General Acacius (Pedro Pascal), does not seem so sure of still being on the right side. Will Lucio be able to make his way through this whirlwind of drama and blood, and save his life?
Where Was Ridley Scott‘s Sequel Filmed?
Principal photography for the film began in January 2023 and ended in June 2024, just a few weeks before the release of the official images, poster, and brand-new trailer; among the locations that made the set of one of the most colossal sequels of recent years unique is the British region of Sussex, between Kent, Surrey, Hampshire and the English Channel; but there were also some particularly exotic locations. Gladiator II was also filmed by Ridley Scott on the island of Malta (set in the city of Rome) and in the North African city of Ouarzazate, Morocco, in addition to some sequences shot in the Sahara Desert adjacent to the nation of the African continent.
The artistic and production team of the film (with a final budget of over 300 million dollars) returned directly from the first film in 2000: Arthur Max for the production design, Oscar winner Janty Yates for the costumes, and John Mathieson as director of photography. Hans Zimmer will not return to compose his immortal musical melodies, thus leaving space for his former assistant and now composer for cinema and television of great depth Harry Gregson-Williams. Will the soundtrack be memorable again for this sequel? We will find out very soon.
The artistic and production team of the film (with a final budget of over 300 million dollars) returned directly from the first film in 2000: Arthur Max for the production design, Oscar winner Janty Yates for the costumes, and John Mathieson as director of photography. Hans Zimmer will not return to composing his immortal musical melodies, thus leaving space for his former assistant and now composer for cinema and television of great depth Harry Gregson-Williams. Will the soundtrack be memorable again for this sequel? We will find out very soon.
New Empire, New Characters?
As we previously wrote, Gladiator II takes place 15 years after the events of the first film starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Richard Harris, and Connie Nielsen. Of the original cast, only Danish actress Connie Nielsen “survives” in the sequel as Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius and mother of Lucius Verus, played here by the rapidly rising Irishman Paul Mescal. Also returning, in a more modest role than the one he had in the award-winning 2000 feature film, is Djimon Hounsou, once again in the role of the ex-slave Juba. Among the new actors, in addition to the aforementioned Paul Mescal, there is also Pedro Pascal in the role of the ambivalent Marcus Acacius, a Roman general trained under the command of Maximus Decimus Meridius, the two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington in the role of Macrinus, a wealthy man of power in Rome who runs a stable of gladiators for sport and who plots to overthrow the decadent empire ruled by Caracalla and Geta. Respectively, the two roles are played by the young Fred Hechinger (who replaced Barry Keoghan during the production of the film) and by Joseph Quinn, much loved in the role of Eddie Munson in Stranger Things 4 and more recently the protagonist of the spinoff A Quiet Place: Day One.
Gladiator 2 Character Poster
Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Fred Hechinger, and Joseph Quinn star in these six posters featuring the main cast of Gladiator 2 that have accompanied the release of the trailer.
When is Gladiator 2 Coming Out?
Gladiator II will debut in UK cinemas on November 15, 2024, while in the North American market (United States and Canada) on Friday, November 22, distributed exclusively by Paramount Pictures without the co-financing of Universal Pictures which, unlike the first feature film 24 years earlier, has distanced itself from the financing and distribution costs due to the very high production budget costs. In Italy it will arrive in cinemas during November, distributed not only by Paramount but also by Eagle Pictures. In the North American market, Gladiator II will debut on the same weekend as the highly anticipated sequel Wicked: Part 1 (November 22); a duel to the last ticket purchased at the box office that could repeat the competition, the record numbers, and the adrenaline of what in 2023 was a true phenomenon not only profitable for American exhibitors but also of custom: the Barbenheimer; there are already those online who have renamed it “Wickietor” or “Glicked”. Which do you prefer?
