- Writer and director says has started work on third instalment of franchise
- Gladiator II doesn’t hit theaters until later this year
- News should mean fans shouldn’t have to wait as long for third film as they have for the second
Gladiator II might not have made it to theaters yet, but its writer has already begun work on the next film in the franchise.
Work started
Ridley Scott has revealed that he has started work on a script for a third film. Speaking to Total Film he said he has already written eight pages. “I’ve got the beginning of a very good footprint,” he said.
Scott had previously hinted that he was thinking about a third movie earlier this year in an interview with French magazine Premiere. He said that the ending of Gladiator II leaves it open for a third film to follow on.
It also means that fans won’t have to wait as long for Gladiator III as they have for Gladiator II. The sequel, which opens in theaters on November 22, comes 24 years after the original film made its debut.
Gladiator won many awards after it was released in 2000. The historical epic, starring Russell Crowe, told the story of a Roman general who, after being betrayed, becomes a gladiator determined to avenge the murders of his family and the emporer.
New star
Gladiator II is set a generation after the original film. In it, Paul Mescal stars as an adult Lucius, son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and the nephew of Commodus, the first film’s antagonist, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Lucius now lives in Numidia, northern Africa, where he was sent by his mother as a child so he could be out of the reach of the Roman Empire. But Lucius eventually returns to Rome as a gladiator, where he makes new enemies and reunites with Lucilla. Denzel Washington also stars as Macrinus, a wealthy Rome powerbroker who keeps a stable of gladiators for sport.
