As I had reported five months ago, Djimon Hounsou and Connie Nielsen are set to return for Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” sequel.
THR are a little late in that regard, but it’s good to know that both actors, along with “Stranger Things” star Joseph Quinn, will officially be added to the cast of Scott’s upcoming epic, which is said to be shooting in May.
Nielsen, Hounsou and Quinn join a packed cast that includes the likes of Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal and Barry Koeghan. Production is set to take place in Morocco.
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) will write the screenplay.
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. Scott is indeed moving forward on a followup to his 2001 Best Picture winner.
In December, I had written that Scott’s “Gladiator” sequel was in pre-production mode and ready to shoot in the summer. The trades finally got with the program in January as Deadline reported that Scott‘s long-awaited sequel was in motion:
The sequel will follow Mescal’s 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. Connie Nielsen, who played Lucilla, is part of the sequel’s cast. So is Djimon Hounsou who is set to return as the once-enslaved Juba.
Paramount has dated the ‘Gladiator’ sequel for Nov. 22, 2024. That’s Thanksgiving weekend, so they have high commercial prospects for this one.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.