The first trailer for one of the autumn’s most hotly anticipated films has arrived. Gladiator II, Ridley Scott’s sequel to his 2000 Oscar-conquering epic, is due in cinemas in November, but the promotional reel offers the first look proper at Paul Mescal, who has stepped into Russell Crowe’s sandals.
Mescal plays Lucius, son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and the late Lucius Verus, who remembers watching the doomed heroics of Crowe’s Maximus in the first movie. Inspired by his courage, the enslaved Lucius vows to defeat new preening emperors Caracalla (Joseph Quinn) and Geta (Fred Hechinger).