Paul Mescal Faces Pedro Pascal in First Gladiator 2 Footage

Ridley Scott puts two of the hottest actors of the moment in the arena in the sequel to his legendary epic, but not only them.

Vanity Fair has exclusively revealed the first thirteen official photos of Gladiator 2 -or rather, Gladiator IIbecause if there is a film whose sequel number can be written in Roman numerals, it is this one. So here is Paul Mescal in Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), who lives in peace in Numidia, far from Rome and its intrigues by his mother… Facing him, his nemesis will be General Acacius, played by Pedro Pascal, “a very, very good general, which means he’s a very, very good killer”according to the star of The Mandalorian And The Last of Us. A former disciple of Maximus, Acacius ravages Numidia at the beginning of the film at the head of a Roman expeditionary force. A scene that Ridley Scott described for Vanity Fair as being “rather horrible”. Lucius, who has become a prisoner of war, is sent to Rome to become a gladiator, and finds himself facing Acacius… Visually, we rub our hands with sand, the legionnaires’ armor is desaturated, in short it looks a lot like Gladiator -Ridley Scott also reunites with the director of photography from the first film, John Mathieson, with whom he had not worked since Robin Hood (2010).

First Gladiator 2 Images Hit Hard at CinemaCon

Last April, the first images of the film shown at CinemaCon promised crazy scenes with arenas filled with sharks and baboons… Mescal avour told Vanity Fair that he had bulked up for the role without wanting to become a sex symbol (too late): “I just wanted to be big and strong so I would look like someone who could hit really hard when everything was going to shit.”said the actor of Normal People. “I know that when you go for that kind of look, you run the risk of not looking like a warrior, but like an underwear model.” (in any case, we take it).

That’s not all: thanks to Vanity Fair, we also discover Macrinus (Denzel Washington), an arms dealer who owns a team of gladiators “as if he had a stable of racehorses”laughs Scott. Ultimate bonus: the first photos of Joseph Quinn (seen in Stranger Thingscurrently starring in A Quiet Place and future Human Torch of the Fantastic Fouralso with Pedro Pascal), the emperor Caracalla, ruler of a decadent and corrupt Rome with his brother Geta (Fred HechingerQuinn in The White Lotus).

So, with all that, “are you not entertained?” We especially want to be well entertained in front of the trailer, which should be put online on July 9. And the film will be released in France on November 13.