Ridley Scott may entertain again with a third Gladiator movie

Just like the Roman empire, Ridley Scott can’t stop expanding his Gladiator franchise, whether it’s actually advisable or not. “I’m already toying with the idea of ​​Gladiator 3. No, seriously! I’ve lit the fuse,” Scott told French magazine Premiere, via Variety. He then added what feels like a pretty major spoiler for Gladiator II, which doesn’t hit theaters until November 22. You’ve been warned! “The ending of Gladiator II is reminiscent of The Godfather, with Michael Corleone finding himself with a job he didn’t want, and wondering, ‘Now, Father, what do I do?'” Scott said. “So the next [film] will be about a man who doesn’t want to be where he is.”

Premiere also reports that Paul Mescal, who stars in the upcoming sequel that again, has not yet been released, could be on board for the third. “Yes, Ridley spoke to me about it, but only yesterday,” he apparently told the outlet (translated from French). “I’m waiting to see what’s going to happen, but I’m interested, of course. But we can’t rush anything: the story has to hold together.”

In Gladiator II, which charges into the ring 24 years after its predecessor, Mescal plays a grown-up Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and the nephew of evil emperor Commodus (played in the original film by Joaquin Phoenix), who accidentally messes up Maximus’ (Russell Crowe) plan to escape the capitol. The upcoming film finds Lucius living in Numidia, a region of the empire located in modern day northern Africa, before what Variety describes as “events” bring him back to Rome as a gladiator. Nielsen returns as Lucilla for the film, which also stars Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, and Joseph Quinn. 

No matter how popular it was, spinning an entire franchise from a one-off film released over two decades ago is about the most 2024 thing a director can do. We’ve already seen similar legacyquels in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Twisters, and both Avatar 4 and Frozen 4 are imminent, each of which was announced long before either franchise’s third film had ever hit a screen. (They still haven’t!) The future of Gladiator III lies in the hands of the audience and the box office, but if people are entertained, it will almost definitely be another frontier for the conquering franchise.