We weren’t really sure if this one was still happening, but a recent report is stating that Ridley Scott is currently scouting locations for “Gladiator 2.”
The 85-year-old Scott is (or will be) in the Moroccan city of Ouarzazate, known as the “Moroccan Hollywood.” Moroccan news outlet le360 reported that Gladiator 2’s executive production team is currently in negotiations with Ouarzazate’s Atlas Studios.
When this project was announced in 2018 it read like one of those kooky satirical writeups from The Onion, but it wasn’t fake news. The Oscar-winning director is indeed moving forward on a followup to his 2001 Best Picture winner.
This latest one would follow Lucius (son of Lucilla and the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix's villainous Commodus). If you remember, Maximus saved Lucius from his uncle in the 2000 film.
In 2019, Producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald had confirmed that the sequel would be set 25 years after the original. Writer Peter Craig (The Crown, Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1 & 2) is set to write the screenplay with Scott returning to direct.
Scott had previously stated that his idea for the sequel would have Maximus use the "portal of a dying warrior" to come back from the dead in the sequel, whatever that meant. Nick Cave had written the screenplay for that idea, but, according to Scott, it's been scrapped and sitting inside the DreamWorks vault for close to 10 years now. Cave's screenplay seems to have been axed for Craig's take.