More than twenty years after the release of the first historical drama, the first trailer for Gladiator 2 has finally been released.
You wouldn’t think a movie like Gladiator would get a sequel, but if there’s anything I’ve learned about this decade, it’s that we’re in the age of IP. You got a well-known brand working with a big-name star? Yeah, of course, you can make a ton of money! Now, 24 years after the original Gladiator, we get a sequel, with director Ridley Scott once again at the helm. The movie has been a long time in the making, having been announced back in 2018, and today, after all this time, the first trailer for Gladiator 2 has finally been released, showing Paul Mezcal (Common Man) in all his muscled, bloody, sweaty glory.
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Gladiator 2 picks up the storyline set decades before the original film, with Mescal playing Lucius, a character who actually appeared in the original film as well – he’s the son of Lucilla and nephew of Emperor Commodus, who was then played by Joaquin Phoenix (Lucius was played by Spencer Treat Clark at the time, and Mescal took over the role). After a stint in the North African region of Numidia, Lucius returns to Rome and becomes a gladiator (just like the movie’s title!), and as the trailer above shows, he’ll eventually face off against the film’s “Big Daddy” Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian).
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The rest of the cast is pretty solid too, including Denzel Washington (Malcolm X), Joseph Quinn (A Quiet Place: Day One) and Connie Nielsen (One Hour Photo), the latter of which will be reprising her role as Lucilla from the first film. If you want to see the film, though, you still have a few months to go, as it won’t be in theaters until November 22.
