The first poster for Gladiator II has been released and with that comes confirmation a trailer is set to follow tomorrow. While a handful of stills recently offered a sneak peek at what's to come, fans of Sir Ridley Scott's 2000 classic have been eager to see footage for some time now.
The sequel centres around Paul Mescal's Lucius, the son of Connie Nielsen's Lucilla. Decades have passed and he's come of age far away from his mother after she sent him to the northern coast of Africa to escape the reaches of the Roman Empire.
He's grown up resenting his mother (not understanding she had good reason for sending him away) but now has a peaceful life with a wife and child of his own...until the Romans invade. As a result, he soon finds himself competing in the arena we once saw Maximus fight in.
Mescal's breakthrough performance was in Normal People; however, Gladiator II will likely be the movie that puts him on the map.
During a recent interview, he reflected on first meeting with Scott. "We spoke for about 20 to 30 minutes. I wanted to get a flavor from him about what the story was going to be about, so we spent about 15 minutes talking about that, and then we spent another 10 minutes talking about the sport that I played growing up - Gaelic football."
"Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body. My memory of it is that probably two or three weeks later, the offer came in."
As for his physical transformation, Mescal said, "I just wanted to be big and strong and look like somebody who can cause a bit of damage when shit hits the fan. I think also, sometimes, one could, in striving for that perfect look, end up looking more like an underwear model than a warrior.”
"Muscles start to grow, and that can be deemed aesthetic in certain capacities, but there is something about feeling strong in your body that elicits just a different feeling," the actor continued. "You carry yourself differently. It has an impact on you psychologically in a way that is useful for the film."
Based on characters by David Franzoni and a story by Peter Craig and David Scarpa, Ridley Scott directs Gladiator II from a script by Scarpa. The cast includes Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, with Connie Nielsen and Denzel Washington.
Gladiator II arrives in theaters on November 22.