Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius’s story may have ended with his death at the Colosseum, but a continuation to the Gladiator saga is in the works, with director Ridley Scott confirming that a script for a sequel is currently being written.
The US filmmaker told Empire magazine that the project, which will come as a follow-up to the 2000 Oscar-winning film, will be the next one he takes on after wrapping his Napoleon Bonaparte biopic Kitbag, which is slated to be released in 2023.
“I’m already having [the next] Gladiator written now,” the filmmaker, 83, said. “So when I’ve done Napoleon, Gladiator will be ready to go.”
Plans for a sequel to Gladiator were first announced in 2018. The film is set to take place 25 years after the events of the original, which made more than $450 million in the global box office and won five Oscars, including for Best Picture.
The sequel will follow Lucius, son of Lucilla and the tyrannically-bent emperor Commodus, who in Gladiator were played by Connie Nielsen and Joaquin Phoenix respectively.
In the original film, Lucilla and the young Lucius, portrayed by Spencer Treat Clark, were both rescued from Commodus by Maximus, a role that won Russell Crowe the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Paramount is behind the project and the screenplay is being written by Top Gun: Maverick and The Batman scriptwriter Peter Craig.
Scott will be releasing House of Gucci later this year. The anticipated film, which stars Lady Gaga, Al Pacino and Adam Driver, will follow the divorce of Patrizia and Maurizio Gucci, the head of the Gucci fashion house, which ultimately leads to murder.
