Although absolutely nobody asked for it, and precious few legacy sequels have ever worked, producers are still pushing ahead with the sequel to Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator'.
There's something of a storied history around sequels and 'Gladiator', with Nick Cave - yes, that Nick Cave - submitting a script that saw Maximus Decimus Meridius fighting his way through time after being granted eternal life by the Roman gods.
No, not joking. That really happened.
Anyway, the script being worked on is by Peter Craig, who previously adapted 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay' and also wrote the script for 'Top Gun: Maverick', so evidently legacy sequels are his thing.
Speaking to HeyUGuys, the producers on 'Gladiator 2' - Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald - confirmed that the script is currently being written, and that the story will pick up some 25, 30 years later.
The end of 'Gladiator', as we know, saw Russell Crowe die in the middle of the coliseum after fighting Joaquin Phoenix to the death, so odds are neither of them are coming back. Then again, there's a sequel script out there with Maximus getting superpowers from the Roman gods, so even knows?
No release date has been for 'Gladiator 2', nor has any casting took place either, so this is still a long way off becoming a reality. There's every chance that this might simply be knocked on the head before then, because honestly, is there any real appetite for this?
As good and all as 'Gladiator' was, do you really need a sequel for it?
