First Trailer for ‘Gladiator II’ Reveals Pageantry, Vengeance and a Shark

Paramount Pictures today revealed the first trailer for Gladiator II from director Ridley Scott and starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger and Connie Nielsen.

The sequel to the 2000 Best Picture winner that starred Academy Award winner Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix picks up decades later with Lucius (Mescal), Lucius now living in the northern African region of Numidia, where he was sent by his mother Lucilla (the returning Nielsen) as a child. Quinn stars as Emperor Geta and Hechinger as Emperor Caracalla, two young brothers ruling the current Roman Empire.

Two-time Oscar winner Washington stars as as Macrinus, a wealthy powerbroker in Rome who keeps a stable of gladiators for sport and one who finds something special in Lucius. Pascal plays Marcus Acacius, a Roman general who trained under the command of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Crowe in the original film).

The trailer gives us battles galore (including a brief shot of those sharks in the Colosseum), a fight with a rhinoceros, the madness of the twin rulers and Emmy Award and Academy Award nominee Mescal attempting to rally the gladiators to rise up against the Roman elite, just as Maximus did. All to the tune of “No Church in the Wild” from JAY-Z and Kanye West (feat. Frank Ocean & The-Dream).

Gladiator II is written by David Scarpa (Napoleon, House of Gucci) from a story by Peter Craig and David Scarpa. It is executive produced by Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, Raymond Kirk, and Aidan Elliott, and produced by Douglas Wick, Ridley Scott, Lucy Fisher, Michael Pruss, and David Franzoni.

Paramount Pictures will release Gladiator II on November 22 only in theaters. See full trailer below and new character posters.