First Look at Gladiator II: See Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal in Action

It has been over two decades since gladiator Fans entered the cinematic Colosseum for the first time under the direction of Ridley Scott and now we get an official insight into the director’s new story in the same universe.

On Monday, Vanity Fair shared several first pictures of Scott’s long-awaited Gladiator IIwhich welcomes a host of famous faces, including Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel WashingtonConnie Nielsen, Joseph QuinnFred Hechinger and more.

Gladiator II Mescal plays Lucius Verus, the nephew of the former emperor Commodus, the patricide and later emperor, played by Joaquin Phoenix in the first film. Per Vanity FairHis mother Lucilla (Nielsen) sends him to Numidia, a region on the north coast of Africa, to grow up, where he starts his own family and harbors a grudge against his mother and the empire.

When the Roman army (led by Pascal’s general Marcus Acacius) attacks, Lucius’ new home is destroyed and he is captured and taken back to Rome to become a gladiator. The Rome he returns to is corrupt and cruel, ruled by two “sadistic” co-emperors (Hechinger and Quinn). Lucius learns that his mother is involved with the very general who just destroyed his way of life in Numidia.

Washington plays a former slave turned wealthy arms dealer named Macrinus, Derek Jacobi is Senator Gracchus, Tim McInnerny is Thraex and Alexander Karim is Ravi, alongside Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, May Calamawy and others.

Pascal’s general is said to have completed training as a junior officer under Russell Crowe“Maximus” – the role for which Crowe received the Oscar for Best Actor in 2001.

At the end of the first gladiatorMaximus succumbs to injuries sustained in a violent attempt to overthrow Commodus, meaning Crowe’s character is absent from the sequel. But that doesn’t mean he will be forgotten in the sequel.

“This film has an identity that is shaped by its legacy. It would be absurd if it were not so,” says Pascal Vanity Fair. The actor described Acacius as a fighter who “learned from the best, so of course that code of honor is embedded in his training and his life. But at the end of the day, he’s a different person. And that can’t change who he is. Maximus is Maximus, and that can’t be replicated. That just makes Acacius capable of different things.”

When asked about his view on the content of the film, Mescal says: Vanity Fair: “What people do to survive, but also what people do to win. We see that in the arena, but also in the political struggle that takes place outside of my character’s storyline, where you see other characters striving for power and trying to get it. Where is the room for humanity? Where is the room for love, familial connection? And will those things ultimately overcome that kind of greed and power? Those things are often in direct conflict with each other.”

It’s a remarkably different tone than the project Scott saw that led him to Mescal for the role of Lucius – Hulu’s miniseries, Normal people.

“When I watch something, I tend to watch who’s interesting. It’s just in my DNA. Almost four years ago, when I saw a TV show that wasn’t really my kind of TV show, I asked myself, ‘Who is this guy?'” Scott says of Mescal, who caught his attention. the adaptation of Sally Rooney’s 2018 bestseller.

Scott remembers arranging a Zoom meeting with Mescal while he was performing Endstation longing in London: “I met him and he said: ‘Of course, I’d like to do that.’ And that was it. We were immediately in the running. He was a special discovery. He was absolutely perfect.”

Mescal adds that the conversation lasted “about 20 to 30 minutes.”

“I wanted to get an idea from him of what the story would be about, so we talked about that for about 15 minutes and then another 10 minutes about the sport I played as a kid – Gaelic football. Maybe that helped me because I’m used to being physically active,” he says, adding that Scott later decided he didn’t need to do a camera test. “As I recall, the offer came probably two or three weeks later.”

Crowe will apparently remain an unseen character in the sequel after his character died in the first film. Earlier this month, the 60-year-old Oscar winner talks about his complicated feelings about the gladiator Continuation during a performance on The Kyle Meredith with… Podcast.

“I think back to the age I was when I made that film and all the things that came after and the doors that that particular film opened for me,” he said, sharing his thoughts on the sequel.

“There is definitely a hint – and this is quite honest – a hint of melancholy, a hint of jealousy,” he admitted, adding with a laugh, “because I still remember the time when I had longing.”

“I feel a little uncomfortable that they’re doing another one, you know? Because of course I’m dead and I have no say in what gets done,” he added. “But a couple of things that I’ve heard, I say, ‘No, no, no, no, no. That’s not part of the moral development of that particular character.’ But, you know, I can’t say anything. That’s not my job. I’m six feet under. So we’ll see how that goes.”

Gladiator II is scheduled to hit theaters on November 22nd.

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