At last, we have a first look at the long-awaited 'Gladiator' sequel starring our own Paul Mescal. Vanity Fair have revealed some pictures from the 'Gladiator II' set along with stills from the movie and... yeah... Mescal cuts an impressive figure.

The Maynooth man will play Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe’s love interest Lucilla in the original 'Gladiator' movie. Director Ridley Scott returns for the sequel set years after the original took place. Mescal stars alongside Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and Joseph Quinn.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Ridley Scott said it was through Mescal's role in 'Normal People' that he discovered him. "When I watch anything, I tend to be clocking who’s interesting. It’s just in my DNA.

"And so, watching a TV show that’s not really my kind of TV show almost four years ago, I said, 'Who’s this guy?’"

Scott arranged a Zoom with Mescal while the actor was performing 'A Streetcar Named Desire' in London. "I met with him and he said, ‘Of course, I’d love to do it.’ And that was it," Scott said. "We were away and running with the ball. He was a special find. He was absolutely perfect."

Turns out Mescal's GAA career also helped in landing the role, he told VF: It really did happen that fast. We spoke for about 20 to 30 minutes. I wanted to get a flavour from him about what the story was going to be about, so we spent about 15 minutes talking about that, and then we spent another 10 minutes talking about the sport that I played growing up—Gaelic football.

"Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body."

There was talk of a camera test but Scott decided he didn't need it: "My memory of it is that probably two or three weeks later, the offer came in."

And now look at him!

The trailer for 'Gladiator II' is expected on July 9th while the movie will be in cinemas in November.