Gladiator II: ‘Incredible’ First Look at Paul Mescal in Trailer

The trailer for the highly anticipated “Gladiator II” has been released today. It offers fans a first glimpse into the film, which stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, and Pedro Pascal.

The film is the follow-up to the iconic 2000 movie by Ridley Scott, starring Russel Crowe, which cleaned up at the Oscars taking home five awards. Twenty-four years later, the film continues several decades in the future, with Paul Mescal as Lucius.

Mescal plays the grandson of former Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and now the grown-up son of Emperor Commodus. After ending up in slavery following an invasion led by Roman general Marcus Acacius, Lucius follows the inspiration of Maximus (played by Crowe in the original Gladiator movie) and competes as a gladiator.

If you can’t see the trailer above, click here.

The first photos of Mescal as Lucius dropped several weeks ago, sending fans into a frenzy of excitement. News broke in January 2023 that Mescal would take on the goliath role as he rose steadily to fame in Hollywood. Since then, he has starred in several award-winning films like “All of us Strangers” alongside Andrew Scott and “Aftersun.”

“Gladiator II” releases in theaters Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, which is the weekend before Thanksgiving. The film-adaptation of the Broadway musical “Wicked” will also be released that weekend, providing some healthy competition.