Gladiator was special for many reasons. Of course there was the epic arena action, with filmmaker Ridley Scott conjuring the sheer spectacle of those brutal death-matches on the big screen. There was the evocation of Ancient Rome itself, taking audiences to the Colosseum in all its glory. But at the heart of it all was Russell Crowe’s Maximus, the ultimate underdog fighting his way to freedom, kicking back against the Roman regime, and seeking to avenge his wife and child every time he picked up his sword. No pressure, then, for Paul Mescal in Gladiator II – entering the arena and taking centre stage as Lucius, a ferocious new fighter inspired (in multiple ways) by Maximus, 20-plus years later.
Bringing in a fresh protagonist was inevitable, given how Gladiator ends. But Lucius isn’t just inspired by Maximus conceptually – the character literally finds his inspiration having watched Maximus in the arena back when he was a child. As such, he’s the equal and opposite of the previous hero. “The idea was to invert the whole first movie entirely,” screenwriter David Scarpa tells Empire in our world-exclusive Gladiator II issue. “The first movie starts with Maximus, who’s a Roman general battling a barbarian army. My notion was that we would begin the [second] movie looking at a young man who has joined a barbarian army, and he’s facing off against the Romans. He has the same unspoken anger and loathing for Rome [as Maximus did], so we’re watching echoes of the same man, but almost his opposite number.”
In the arena, we’ll see Mescal’s Lucius face all kinds of foes – fellow fighters, rampaging rhinos, and, most excitingly, Pedro Pascal’s General Acacius. Who exactly comes out on top in that fight remains to be seen – but in real life, Mescal is confident that he’d edge it. “I think I’d win in a fight between me and Pedro, but he’s deceptive,” he tells Empire. “Pedro is one of the funniest men that I know, but he could fuck shit up. Like, absolutely categorically. There’s a beast in there for sure.” Who’s ready to see the beasts unleashed?
Read Empire’s full world-exclusive Gladiator II cover feature – speaking to Ridley Scott, writer David Scarpa, and stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, and Joseph Quinn – in the October 2024 issue, on sale Thursday 29 August. Pre-order a copy online here. Gladiator II comes to UK cinemas from 15 November.