Is that the faint sound of a hand trailing through a field of wheat? No! It’s the bombastic sound of a brand new trailer for “Gladiator II.” Director Ridley Scott’s follow-up to his 2000 historical epic once again centers around the blood-stained sands of Rome’s Colosseum, and a vengeful warrior whose violence is entertainment for the masses.
In this sequel, Paul Mescal (“All of Us Strangers”) plays the now fully-grown Lucius, nephew to Joaquin Phoenix’s villainous emperor Commodus from the original film. Though he was once the heir to the throne of the Roman Empire, “Gladiator II” begins with Lucius living far away from the capital, having settled in the north African kingdom of Numidia. When his home is invaded by a Roman army, commanded by Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), Lucius finds himself back at the Colosseum — only this time he’s not in the stands as a spectator, but fighting in the arena as a gladiator.
The first trailer for “Gladiator II” teased epic battles featuring a war rhino, an arena filled with water, and more. And beyond the action setpieces, this new trailer answers a 24-year-old mystery about Lucius’ parentage. Though he was said to be the son of Lucilla’s (Connie Nielsen) late husband, Lucius Verus, many people have theorized that his real father was Russell Crowe’s Maximus. Turns out, that theory was correct.
Like father, like son
Poor Russell Crowe. The actor has made it pretty clear that he’s sick of being asked about “Gladiator II,” given that his character is dead and therefore not in the movie. With this soft retcon, though, he’s surely in for another deluge of questions about what he thinks of the reveal.
The confirmation of a father-son connection is just one way that this trailer leans hard on the original “Gladiator” as a selling point for the sequel. In fact, the plots seem to be virtually identical. Lucius is the husband to a murdered wife. He’s captured as a slave, taken to Rome and made into a gladiator. His master (Denzel Washington as the ambitious Macrinus) offers him an incentive to put on a great show, and Lucius’ personal quest for vengeance becomes entangled with a secondary plot about a coup to dethrone the emperors (Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn as Caracalla and Geta, respectively).
Lucius even directly quotes his father in this new trailer, dropping his famous “I will have my vengeance” and “in this life or the next” soundbites. It makes sense as a marketing play, given that legacy sequels have been having a good time at the box office lately. But let’s hope this sequel also has something new to offer — besides CGI baboons.
“Gladiator II” releases in theaters on November 15, 2024.