Russell Crowe has shared his thoughts on the upcoming Paul Mescal-led Gladiator 2, and he’s not super convinced. The star played Maximus in Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic, but his character was killed at the end of the movie by Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus.
In the upcoming sequel, Mescal plays Commodus’ nephew, Lucius Verus. Few details beyond that have been confirmed, but Scott has previously said his character has been "living in the wilderness" and is estranged from his mother.
Speaking on the US podcast Kyle Meredith With …, Crowe shared his thoughts on the sequel. "Ridley Scott deserves an Academy Award for that film," he said of the original film. "I am slightly uncomfortable with the fact that they’re making another one because of course I’m dead and I have no say in what gets done. But a couple of things that I’ve heard, I’m like, 'Hmm, no no no no no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character.' But, I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six feet under so we’ll see what that is like."
Crowe goes on to say that he feels a bit of sadness that the follow-up is happening without him. "I reflect back and the age I was when I made that film and all the things that came after it and the doors that that particular movie opened for me," he added. "So there’s definitely a tinge, and this is just being purely honest, a tinge of melancholy, a tinge of jealousy, because I remember when I had tendons so…"
Gladiator 2 is arriving in theaters later this year and is currently going through some reshoots in the UK. Thanks to the public nature of the scenes that are filming too, we’ve had our first look at Mescal in character for the new movie. There’s also been a trailer that’s debuted behind closed doors, which reportedly features everything from man-eating monkeys to gladiators fighting sharks.
For more upcoming movies, check out our guide to 2024 movie release dates.
