Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal looked remarkably similar as they posed together while filming Gladiator 2.
Mescal will star as Lucius, the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Roman emperor Commodus from Ridley Scott’s 2000 historical drama, in the forthcoming sequel.
Pascal will also appear in the cast, alongside Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Derek Jacobi and Joseph Quinn.
Production has recently begun in Morocco and now moved to Malta, with a photo circulating on social media of Mescal and Pascal posing together on a beach.
With both actors wearing sunglasses and with their hair and beards long, fans quickly pointed out the uncanny likeness between the pair.
“Took me a moment to tell who’s Pedro and who’s Paul,” one commenter wrote.
Another tweet read: “If I didn’t know Paul and Pedro I would’ve thought they were siblings, why do they look alike?”
“I read ‘Pedro Pascal and Pedro Pascal spotted with fans in Malta’ and believed it cuz why do they look so similar,” another fan echoed.
“Their names make them sound like Pokemon evolutions of each other,” one tweet read, while another joked: “For months I thought Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal were the same person.”
“They look so alike I think they could play father and son,” one social media user wrote.
“Paul and Pedro look like twins,” one fan commented, while another wrote: “Help which one is Pedro?”
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Gladiator 2 is currently scheduled for release in November 2024, 24 years after the release of the hugely successful Best Picture winner.
Starring Russell Crowe, Gladiator made more than $500m (£390m) in the global box office and is widely considered to be one of the greatest historical epics of all time.
While Mescal has acknowledged that a “physical robustness” will be required of him to play Lucius in Gladiator 2, the Irish actor has said that he’s “not interested” in undergoing any “transformation” for the role.
“This guy’s got to fight and got to be a beast. And whatever that looks and feels like is right for me, is what it’s going to be,” the 27-year-old said.
“Of course there’s a physical robustness required for the character, but past that, I’m not interested.
“With films like this and superhero films, there is sometimes a focus on that, which I don’t find that interesting,” added Mescal. “Sometimes I see films and I’m like, ‘That person doesn’t look real.’”
Crowe, meanwhile, will not return as Maximus for Gladiator 2 and recently admitted to feeling “slightly jealous” of the Normal People star.
“I mean, look, the only thing that I really feel about it is slightly jealous, you know?” he said.
“ I was a much younger man, obviously, and it was a huge experience in my life. It’s something that changed my life, really. It changed the way people regarded me and what I do for a living.”
