Gladiator 2 has wrapped filming – and Paul Mescal and Ridley Scott celebrated in the best way they know how... The Aftersun star took to his private Instagram account on Wednesday, January 17 to share a photo of himself and the director chilling out and smoking cigars.
"The End," Mescal captioned the post, which many have taken to be confirmation that the upcoming sequel is officially in the can.
Paul Mescal and Ridley Scott after wrapping ‘GLADIATOR 2’. pic.twitter.com/2YpdbULMUPJanuary 17, 2024
Written by All the Money in the World scribe David Scarpa, Gladiator 2 will reportedly center on Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe's character Maximus Decimus Meridius's lover Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, who will appear in the follow-up) from the original. Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, Derek Jacobi, Moon Knight's May Calamawy, Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington also star, while The White Lotus's Fred Hechinger plays the movie's antagonist, having replaced Saltburn's Barry Keoghan.
"Can I see Paul Mescal being as big as Russell Crowe? For sure," Scott previously told Total Film magazine. "I watched Normal People. It's not my kind of show but I saw four episodes in a row – boom, boom, boom. I was thinking, 'Who the hell is this Paul Mescal?'
"Then I watched the whole series. And then, suddenly, Gladiator 2 came up, because the script was working pretty well. And I kept thinking about Paul. And that was it."
Released in 2000, Gladiator charts ill-fated Roman soldier Maximus's descent into slavery at the hands of Joaquin Phoenix's traitorous Commodus, Lucius's uncle. It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, winning five including Best Picture, and earned $460 million at the box office.
Michael Pruss, Doug Wick, and Lucy Fisher produce the new flick alongside Scott, while Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are on board as executive producers. Also returning from the original film are cinematographer John Mathieson, production designer Arthur Max and costume designer Janty Yates.
Gladiator 2 is set to release on November 22, 2024. While we wait, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies coming our way throughout 2024 and beyond.
