Gladiator 2 has unveiled its first trailer behind closed doors at CinemaCon, and it's apparently a seriously epic reintroduction to Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning world. Per , the trailer begins with Paul Mescal's Lucius Verus as a nobleman who has been forced to renounce his privileged position to become a gladiator. Among the epic action sequences debuted are Mescal fighting a rhino, man-eating baboons, and Pedro Pascal.
The publication also suggested that the tyrannical emperors – played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger – may be even more unhinged that Joaquin Phoenix’s in the original. Denzel Washington’s character also looks set to be a key player in the sequel, manipulating Mescal in his revenge against the empire. "Rome must fall.
I need only to give it a push," he apparently says. If that wasn't enough, in attendance says it also feature gladiators fighting sharks and "a spit-talking Joseph Quinn". Meanwhile that the footage is just as epic as you might be hoping for.
The plot of the sequel is primarily focused on Mescal's Lucius, who is the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and nephew of Emperor Commodus (Phoenix). Scott previously told that we’ll meet Lucius as a man living "in the wilderness" after having been separated from his family for 15 years. The extended cast is pretty star-studded too, featuring Washington, Pascal, and May Calamawy.
Reprising their roles from the 2000 original are Nielsen and Derek Jacobi. At CinemaCon 2024, we also recently got a .
