The original Gladiator was a box office hit, grossing $457 million worldwide and receiving 11 Oscar nominations, winning Best Picture and Best Actor (The Crow).
The first film tells the story of Maximus (Crowe), a legatus who is betrayed and forced into slavery by the power-mad emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who is behind the deaths of Maximus' wife and child.
Driven by anger and sadness, Maximum wins a gladiatorial contest in the Colosseum and defeats Commodus in a duel, but dies from his injuries.
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Sir Ridley Scott is returning to direct a new film scheduled for release later this year.
But who will star in the sequel, and what will it be about? Keep reading for everything you need to know.
Gladiator 2 release date
Gladiator 2 will be released in theaters on November 22, 2024.
Filming on the sequel began in May 2023 and wrapped in January 2024. Filming took place in Morocco, Malta and the UK.
Due to the SAG-AFRA strike, filming was suspended from July 2023 until filming resumed in December 2023.
Paul Mescal, who appeared on “The Graham Norton Show” in January 2024, said, “We finished filming yesterday and survived. It's over. I'm not allowed to say anything, but it will be released on Thanksgiving this year. Deaf,” he said.
gladiator 2 cast
The cast for “Gladiator 2” has been decided as follows.
Paul Mescal: Lucius Versdenzel Washington Connie Nielsen: Lucilamay Karamawy Derek Jacobi: Senator Gracchus Joseph Quinn: Emperor Caracalla: Fred Hechinger: Emperor Geta Pedro Pascalliol Raspeater Mensah Matt Lucas
Normal People's Paul Mescal has been cast as Lucilla's son, Lucius Verus, who was played as a child by Spencer Treat Clark in the original film.
Meanwhile, Connie Nielsen will reprise her role as Lucilla, the sister of the late Emperor Commodus, and Derek Jacobi will return as the elder statesman Senator Gracchus.
Connie Nielsen as Lucilla in Gladiator.Getty Images
Oscar-winning actress Denzel Washington has been cast as a former slave who becomes a wealthy arms and goods merchant but holds a grudge against the emperor.
Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn has been cast as the historical tyrannical emperor Caracalla, while White Lotus actor Fred Hechinger will play his co-emperor and younger brother Geta.
May Karamawy (Moon Knight), Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones), Lior Raz (Fauda), Peter Mensah ( Spartacus: Blood and Sand), Matt Lucas (Little Britain, Wonka) and undisclosed roles revealed.
gladiator 2 plot
The film follows Lucius Verus as an adult, 15 years after the events of the previous film, when Maximus (Russell Crowe) saves him from his evil uncle, Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).
Director Ridley Scott revealed to Rotten Tomatoes that Lucius lived in a “wilderness” in the countryside, away from the royal line, and that his mother, Lucilla, believed he was dead.
Lucius will undoubtedly return to Rome at a point where his imperial line may come into conflict with a new co-emperor.
What is the history behind Gladiator 2?
Geta is killed by Caracalla in the arms of his mother Julia Domna (212 AD), plate 27, from Jean-Baptiste-Louis Crevier's History of the Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine, from a drawing by Pinelli. Engraved by Persichini, 1837, Rome. Icas94/De Agostini Picture Library (via Getty Images)
Like the first film, Gladiator 2 is already a highly fictionalized version of history, as the real Lucius Verus died at a young age, and his mother Lucilla was killed by his monstrous brother Commodus for planning an assassination. version.
However, history may shed light on some of the intrigues, as the relationship between co-emperors and brothers Caracalla and Geta was not good.
The two initially ruled side by side with their father, Emperor Septimus Severus, who hoped they would continue to rule side by side after his death.
However, the brothers proved unable to share governance and even considered dividing the Roman Empire between them, but this was prevented by their influential mother, Julia Domna.
In the end, the feud between the two became so great that Caracalla had Geta killed while attending a peace conference with his mother, and his younger brother died in his mother's arms.
After this, Caracalla killed or exiled 20,000 men and women as followers of Geta.
The tyrant Caracalla ruled for another six years, conducting campaigns from Rome that were accompanied by military disasters. Eventually, Caracalla was killed by one of his soldiers in present-day Turkey.
In the aftermath, Caracalla's mother, Julia Domna, took her own life.
Is there a trailer for the Gladiator sequel?
No, it's still too early to release a trailer, but keep an eye on this page.
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