Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures | Tagged: Gladiator, Gladiator 2, paramount, Paramount Pictures

Gladiator 2: May Calamawy Joins The Cast, Fred Hechinger In Talks

Moon Knight star May Calamawy and others have joined the cast of Gladiator 2, while The White Lotus star Fred Hechinger is in talks for a role that Barry Keoghan had to leave due to scheduling conflicts.

The cast of Gladiator 2 continues to round out. The film, which has been hanging out in development hell since the early 2000s, looks like it is gearing up to start production soon. According to Deadline, they have brought on a bunch of new names, including Moon Knight breakout star May Calamawy along with Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Peter Mensah, and Matt Lucas. You know, things are close to kicking off when we start getting long cast lists like that, and they should be close to kicking off since the release date is only a year and a half away, and we all know Ridley Scott will not be rushed through this.

While we did gain a bunch of new cast members, Gladiator 2 did reportedly lose someone as well. Barry Keoghan was reportedly in negotiations to play the role of Emperor Geta, but things fell through due to scheduling conflicts. However, sources now report that The White Lotus star Fred Hechinger is now in talks to play that role.

Gladiator 2 Is A Sequel, But Don't Expect Any Russell Crowe

A follow-up to Gladiator is one of those movies where you're really unsure if this is a good idea, but it has been in varying stages of development since 2001. However, things fell apart in 2006, and it wasn't until over a decade later, in 2017, that things started to pick up again. It was officially greenlit in November 2018, and last year it was announced that the script was complete. In January, we got word that Aftersun and Normal People star Paul Mescal was in talks to star. Ridley Scott is back to direct the film with a script by David Scarpa, returning costume designer Janty Yates, and production designer Arthur Max. Scott is set to produce along with Scott Free President Michael Pruss, as well as Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher via Red Wagon Entertainment. Since then, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, and Connie Nielsen have all joined the cast.

"Mescal won't be replacing Crowe's Maximus, whose character met his end in the original film, but instead, he will be playing Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), who now is a grown man as the story takes place years after the first film ended. Lucius was also the nephew of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the son of Roman leader Marcus Aurelius who murdered his father, seized the throne, and wound up in the gladiator ring with Maximus — who, though mortally wounded, skewered the emperor before fading into the great beyond to reunite with his slain wife and son. Maximus saved the boy and his mother while avenging his own family and left a strong impression on the young Lucius."

While we have a release date of November 22, 2024, we don't know if Gladiator 2 will be the title [it probably won't], and production should be starting very soon.

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