Russell Crowe Admits He’s “Slightly Uncomfortable” with Gladiator 2

Russell Crowe has admitted that he’s “slightly uncomfortable” with the idea of upcoming sequel to Gladiator that’s currently in production.

Crowe famously starred in the 2000 historic epic, winning an Academy Award for his performance as the Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius. Now some 24 years later, director Ridley Scott is putting the finishing touches on a sequel film centered around the character of Lucius, the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus who was saved by Crowe’s Maximus in the original movie.

As Crowe’s character dies at the end of Gladiator, he will not appear in the upcoming Gladiator 2. He nonetheless had some a few thoughts on the sequel in a recent interview on Kyle Meredith With…

“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,” Crowe admitted. “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.”

“It does, in a funny way — 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,” Crowe continued. “This is just me being purely honest: there’s definitely a tinge of melancholy, a tinge of jealousy.” He then quipped, “I remember when I had tendons.

Gladiator 2 is set to star Paul Mescal as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, and Joseph Quinn. Connie Nielsen (Lucillia, the mother of Lucius) and Derek Jacobi (Senator Gracchus) will reprise their roles from the original film. The sequel is currently set to open in theaters on November 22nd, 2024.

As for Crowe, he’ll be spending much of the summer touring the globe as part of his “Indoor Garden Party” series, which includes a run of US shows in August. He also recently wrapped filming Nuremberg, in which he plays German war criminal Hermann Göring.