‘Gladiator II’ First Looks at Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Connie Nielsen in Ridley Scott’s Long-Awaited Sequel

Vanity Fair today revealed the exclusive first looks at Gladiator II from 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), and mother Lucilla (the returning Nielsen) with Quinn as Emperor Geta and Hechinger as Emperor Caracalla, two young brothers ruling the current empire.

In casting Mescal, Scott said. “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?’”

Mescal saw meaning in the story beyond the thrill of men clashing swords, fighting wild animals, or staging deadly combat for the amusement of the masses. Asked what Gladiator II is really about, he says, “What human beings will do to survive, but also what human beings will do to win. We see that in the arena, but also in the political struggle that’s going on outside of my character’s storyline, where you see there’s other characters striving and pulling for power. Where’s the space for humanity? Where’s the space for love, familial connection? And ultimately, will those things overcome this kind of greed and power? Those things are oftentimes directly in conflict with each other.”

It really did happen that fast, Mescal confirms. “We spoke for about 20 to 30 minutes,” he says. “I wanted to get a flavor 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.” They talked about possibly doing 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,” Mescal says.

“My nose just is kind of Roman,” he says. “So it’s useful in this context. The nose that I absolutely hated when I was in secondary school—and used to get ribbed for—became very, very useful when Ridley needed somebody to be in Gladiator II.”

Gladiator II hits theaters from Paramount Pictures on November 22. The first trailer for will drop July 9.

Read the full piece by Anthony Breznican at Vanity Fair (https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/paul-mescal-pedro-pascal-gladiator-ii-first-look). See first look images below.