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The latest trailer for Gladiator 2 confirms a bombshell fan theory about Paul Mescal’s character.
The Normal People star, 28, is in the lead role in Sir Ridley Scott’s long-awaited follow-up feature, with Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington also in the cast.
Gladiator 2’s ‘unhinged’ first teaser was released earlier this year, with naval battles galore and a brutal rhino fight in the arena.
And the latest trailer gives fans a sneak peek and plenty more carnage that is set to unfold as well as a huge plot twist concerning the central character.
This is your last chance to stop reading before we launch into spoiler territory.
The trailer’s major reveal sees Lucius (Mescal) discover that he is the son of Maximus, Russell Crowe’s character from the first film, and that his father is not Lucius Verus I as he had believed his entire life.
Paul Mescal appears as Lucius in Gladiator 2 (Picture: Paramount Pictures)
The latest trailer sees his character preparing for battle in the Colosseum (Picture: Paramount Pictures)
It is revealed that Lucius is the son of Russell Crowe’s character Maximus (Picture: Jaap Buitendijk/Dreamworks/Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
His mother Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) shares the news with Lucius before he goes into battle at the Colosseum, emotionally saying: Lucius, take your father’s strength. His name was Maximus. And I see him in you.’
The trailer then cuts to Maximus’ name carved into the wall, which Lucius touches before doing battle.
All Of Us Strangers star Mescal explained the huge reveal in a new interview, saying he knew about his relation to Crowe’s character when he first began the project.
‘[Ridley Scott] mentioned it in the talk, but then it’s an affronting thing to see it written on the page, and [to have] that responsibility fall on your shoulders is interesting,’ he tells Entertainment Weekly.
‘The screenplay does a lot of that work for you in terms of the rubbing the dirt between the hands, the kind of DNA, and the genetics that Lucius inherits,” he said when explaining how he portrayed his character.
‘So I kind of tried to park that to one side because ultimately, where Lucius is coming from at the start of the film, he has a very different journey than Maximus does.’
Normal People star Mescal revealed he knew the twist was coming (Picture: Hoda Davaine/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Crowe will not appear in the upcoming film (Picture: Pietro S. D’Aprano/Getty Images)
He continued: ‘I was hoping that whatever DNA and even just the physical gestures was going to be one part of, and a kind of small part of, the performance. But then what I tried to do is figure out exactly who Lucius was and where those differences lay between Lucius and Maximus.’
Crowe will not appear in the upcoming sequel, and previously explained why he is ‘uncomfortable’ with his iconic film hitting the big screen once more.
‘I’m slightly uncomfortable with the fact they’re making another one because, of course, I’m dead and I have no say in what gets done,’ he told Kyle Meredith in an interview.
‘But a couple of the things I’ve heard I’m like “No, no, no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character”. But I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six foot under. So we’ll see what that is like.’
Talking about his own time in the franchise, he said: ‘I reflect back: the age I was when I made that film and all the things that came after it, the doors that particular movie opened for me.
‘This is just me being purely honest: there’s definitely a tinge of melancholy, a tinge of jealousy. I remember when I had tendons.’
Gladiator is released in cinemas on November 22, 2024.
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