This week in Las Vegas the first footage for Gladiator 2 screened at CinemaCon to those lucky enough to attend the industry event.
Sir Ridley Scott, who returned to direct the sequel, teased in a video: “It is possibly even more extraordinary than the first.”
Set 20 years after Russell Crowe’s Oscar-winning original, Paul Mescal stars as a nobleman who renounces his status to become a gladiator, having been inspired by the late Maximus.
His character Lucius, grown up from the first movie, fights man-eating monkeys, sharks and a rhino in the Colosseum.
There was even a moment when the arena was filled with water for “an epic ship battle”.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mescal’s gladiator pays tribute to Maximus: “I remember that day. I never forgot it. That a slave could take revenge against an emperor. That a slave could get justice in the arena.”
Meanwhile, Pedro Pascal plays a Roman general who is forced to become a gladiator after being against sending young men to war. Additionally, Denzel Washington portrays a character who is manipulating Mescal’s gladiator into starting a revolution. At one point he says: “The only truth in Rome is the law of the strongest.”
The film also sees the return of Connie Nielsen as Lucilla, the mother of Lucius, with Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger joining the cast as co-emperors Caracalla and Geta; bringing the action to the turn of third century AD.
Still no word on when the first trailer heads online just yet.
Gladiator II hits cinemas on November 22, 2024.