Ridley Scott's 2000 epic Gladiator was a massive hit when it arrived in theaters. The movie ultimately earned a whopping 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe. Gladiator remains apart of pop culture, with fans having waited decades for a possible sequel to finally arrive in theaters. Notes film producer Douglas Wick helped to make the original movie into a reality, and recently spoke to the possibility of Gladiator 2 becoming a reality.
There's been a ton of conversation around Gladiator's possible sequel over the past few years, with actress Connie Nielsen expressing her interest in reprising her role as Lucilla. The story would reportedly be a spinoff for Lucilla's son Lucius, although there hasn't been any indication as to when production would actually go into affect. Douglas Wick recently spoke to the possible sequel's future, saying:
Ridley would love to do it. It's really all about getting something on paper. Everyone [involved with the original] loves the movie too much to ever consider cheaply exploiting it and making something that's a shadow of it. It's just really a clear creative problem, working on a script, and if we can ever get it to a place ... Ridley's working on it, it's really just a question of whether we can get it to a place where it feels worthy to make it. It's a real challenge.
Well that was pretty honest. It looks like there's a ton of moving parts in play in order for Gladiator to get its long-awaited sequel. And while Ridley Scott and the powers that be are interested in continuing the story, the right team needs to be assembled. This includes a writer to help to complete the story that Scott has been working on.
Douglas Wick's comments to Comic Book are sure to excite the many moviegoers who are hoping that Gladiator will finally get a sequel. The movie has remained quotable throughout the past two decades, and is still regularly played on syndication. The audience would be built-in, although both Wick and Ridley Scott are insistent that the film's quality would need to be appropriately high considering the original Gladiator's legacy.
Ridley Scott is an iconic director who has worked within a variety of genres. Gladiator went the route of a historical action epic, featuring a stellar group of actors that brought the story to life. Scott produced a ton of thrilling action sequences at around the time Gladiator came out, with the Russell Crowe-led movie featuring countless fight sequences. But will the sequel feature less fighting, considering its reported protagonist?
Lucius was played by Unbreakable's Spencer Treat Clark in the original Gladiator, with Maximus connecting with the young boy and finding some of his humanity in the process. It's unclear if the same actor would be back to play the role, although he's a working actor who recently appeared in M. Night Shyamalan's Glass, reprising his childhood role.
CinemaBlend will keep you updated on all things Gladiator 2 as more details become public. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
