Ridley Scott Already Wants to Start Working on ‘Gladiator III’

Ridley Scott may be two months away from the release of Gladiator II and his 87th birthday, but he’s already cooking up an idea for a third Gladiator flick. 

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker was asked about next projects and flat-out said, “I’d rather get on into Gladiator III.” Scott went on to say, “There’s already an idea,” and while he didn’t give away too much, he said he was drawing inspiration from The Godfather Part II. 

Scott made similar comments to the French movie magazine Premiere, saying he’s already “lit the fuse,” and expanded a bit more on The Godfather connection. “The ending of Gladiator II is reminiscent of The Godfather, with Michael Corleone finding himself with a job he didn’t want, and wondering, ‘Now, Father, what do I do?’ So the next [film] will be about a man who doesn’t want to be where he is.”

Gladiator II is set to hit theaters on Nov. 22 (and Scott’s birthday, if you’re keeping track, is on Nov. 30). The film arrives 24 years after the first Gladiator film, which was a massive critical and box office success, winning Best Picture and Best Actor (for Russell Crowe) at the 73rd Academy Awards. 

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The new flick centers around Lucius (Paul Mescal), a character briefly seen in the original film as the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, daughter of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, ex-lover of Crowe’s Maximus, and sister to Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus (Nielsen will reprise her role in the new movie). Following the events of the first movie, Lucilla sends Lucius away to Northern Africa without explanation, leaving him alone and resentful, but also with a memory of Maximus’ last stand. 

Lucius, now grown up, is forced into slavery, returns to Rome, and becomes a gladiator after the new emperors invade his home. Along the way, he meets Macrinus, a power broker and arms dealer played by Denzel Washington, and ends up on an inevitable collision course with Marcus Acacius, a Roman general played by Pedro Pascal.