Pedro Pascal joins Ridley Scott's Gladiator 2

Pedro Pascal has joined the cast of Ridley Scott's untitled Gladiator sequel.

According to Deadline, Pascal is in final negotiations to star alongside Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Denzel Washington, and the recently added Joseph Quinn. Ridley Scott is set to direct once again.

Gladiator premiered in 2000 to rave reviews and earned over $470 million at the global box office. The film stars Russell Crowe as a Roman general who sets out to get revenge after his family is murdered by an emperor's corrupt son. Gladiator was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won five, including the top Best Picture honor.

A sequel has reportedly been in development hell, with the project being halted several times throughout the last two decades. The script was initially conceived as a prequel to the film's events, centering on the character of Lucius (Spencer Treat Clark), with another version of the script reportedly set to reveal Lucius as the son of Crowe's Maximus. Mescal will play Lucius in the upcoming film, which does not yet have a revealed title or plot.

Pascal officially became a household name after the success of HBO's The Last of Us, and also stars as Din Djarin in Disney Plus's The Mandalorian. The actor can be seen alongside Ethan Hawke in Strange Way of Life, Pedro Almodovar's answer to Brokeback Mountain.

Gladiator 2 does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our list of all the exciting upcoming films in 2023 and beyond, or look through our list of movie release dates.