Gladiator 2: Will there be a Gladiator sequel?

Gladiator is responsible for plenty of iconic pop-culture moments.

From the inevitable thumbs down to the gladiator’s cry, the Gladiator movie also solidified Russell Crowe as an action hero.

The movie earned itself several Oscars for including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Costume Design.

Despite the popularity and lingering love of the film (whether ironic or not), a sequel never got off the ground… until now

Will there be a Gladiator 2?

After making £343 million ($450m) at the box office, the fact a sequel is in the works seems like no surprise.

That it took eighteen years for it to come about may be a bigger surprise than many would have anticipated.

The original Gladiator movie follows Maximus Decimus Meridius, played by Russell Crowe.

Maximus is an army general who loses both his position and his family.

He becomes an enslaved gladiator who, disguised by a masked helmet, debuts in gladiatorial combat in the Colosseum as a Carthaginian in a re-enactment of the Battle of Zama.

He leads his side to victory, and Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) enters the Colosseum to offer his congratulations.

When Maximus is ordered to show himself he does and declares vengeance on Commodus.

By the end, Maximus gets his revenge by killing Commodus in the Colosseum before dying himself.

With neither Maximus nor Commodus alive for a sequel, some suspect Gladiator 2 will pick up with the adult Lucius.

Lucius was played by Spencer Treat Clark in the 2000 movie.

The plot twist is speculated to be the fact that Lucius is, in fact, Maximus’ son.

Ridley Scott is set to direct the with Paramount.

The script will be penned by Peter Craig, who has been busy working on the upcoming Top Gun sequel.

Of course, you can’t quite rule out a flashback or haunting on behalf of Maximus.

After all, Crowe initially wanted to make a sequel centred on the Roman beliefs in the afterlife.

And Crowe wasn’t alone — Nick Cave wrote his own time-travel sequel to Gladiator, which had the Roman gods resurrect Maximus to fight against the persecution of Christians.

That plot would probably garner eye-rolls today, but who knows what Scott’s got up his sleeve.