Gladiator 2 Is Really Happening with Director Ridley Scott

Gladiator 2 is currently in development with Ridley Scott returning to direct. The first film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and won 5 of them, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe. Scott has talked about making a sequel for a while now, and admitted last year that he had the perfect idea for it. Top Gun 2 writer Peter Craig is on board to write the upcoming sequel. Crowe's Maximus character famously didn't live through the first film, so many people are wondering how the sequel will move forward .

It's unclear at this time if Russell Crowe will return for Gladiator 2, but Ridley Scott has talked about bringing him back numerous times over the years. For now, it looks like the story will center on Lucius, who is the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) in the original movie. Lucius is the nephew of the villainous Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Commodus killed Russell Crowe's Maximus at the end of the film. However, before Maximus died, he saved the lives of Lucius and Lucilla.

It's believed that production on Gladiator 2 could happen pretty quickly. Ridley Scott is currently preparing to make Raised by Wolves, which is his first television series, for the TNT network, but the sequel is now reportedly being locked in as his next project. Gladiator 2 is happening at Paramount this time around and Universal reportedly has an option to co-finance. DreamWorks will not have a hand in making the sequel. Regardless of who gets cast, this is going to be a huge movie upon its release.

Ridley Scott would not reveal his brilliant idea for Gladiator 2, but he did say that it would involve bringing back Russell Crowe's Maximus. The director seemed very confident of his idea at the time, but it is unknown if the sequel will still follow Scott's original idea. The director had this to say about Gladiator 2 and bringing back Crowe last year at SXSW film festival.

"I know how to bring him back. I was having this talk with the studio, but he's dead. But there is a way of bringing him back. Whether it will happen I don't know. Gladiator was 2000, so Russell's changed a little bit. He's doing something right now but I'm trying to get him back down here."

For now, it seem like Russell Crowe will be returning for Gladiator 2, which makes sense since he was eaten by lion at the end of the first film. But, stranger things have happened, and Ridley Scott an idea. Crowe reportedly had rocker Nick Cave pen a script for the sequel as well, so the interest is there. Since the sequel is reportedly on the fast track, we will find out soon enough. With that being said, it's still going to take some time to get everything prepared in the right way for the sequel. The Gladiator 2 news was first revealed by Deadline.