“We Can Bring Him Back”: Ridley Scott Details Gladiator 2’s Original Wild Plan For Russell Crowe Return

Director Ridley Scott details the original wild plan for Gladiator 2 which would have seen Russell Crowe return as Maximus. A sequel to the Best Picture-winning from 2000, Gladiator 2 follows the Oscar-nominated Paul Mescal as an older Lucius and is set for a release on November 22, 2024. However, years prior, there was a previous version of the script written by Nick Cave which would have seen Maximus resurrected and allowed Crowe to return as the character.

During a recent appearance on the ReelBlend Podcast, Scott detailed this original wild plan for the Gladiator 2 story which would have seen Maximus return.

The director detailed the original opening scene as Maximus is brought “back to the real world through a portal” located “on the edge of the ocean.” Read his full comments below:

Nick Cave wrote the script, but I had the idea. I knew how to bring him back through a portal, back to the real world. I’m not going tell you what it is, because somebody will steal it… I talked to Nick every other day for about a month as he was writing it. And so I said, “We can bring him back this way.” And what I want to do is start the film in Styx, on the edge of the ocean, and you see him, this warrior, wandering in armor. Then, it’s Maximus wandering, looking for where he’s going to go next. That’s Scene One.

The Original Gladiator 2 Plan Explained

The original Gladiator 2 script was written by Nick Cave during the mid-2000s and as Scott details, would have seen Maximus resurrected during the opening scene. Various versions of the script also saw Maximus awakening in Elysium, the Roman equivalent of Purgatory. Maximus is forced to fight his way out of the infernal realm by defeating Hephaestus, and he eventually returns to Rome.

In Rome, Maximus discovers that their new Emperor, Lucius, has become just as morally corrupt and power-hungry as his uncle Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) was. Lucius becoming Emperor could be one plot point kept in the Gladiator 2 script written by David Scarpa, though it remains to be seen exactly how Mescal’s character is portrayed. However, it’s clear that the upcoming sequel is heading in a decidedly different direction than Cave’s script.

Furthermore, the original script saw Maximus fighting throughout different periods of history, including the Crusades, World War II, and the Vietnam War before working at the Pentagon in the present day. The resurrection of Maximus and the subsequent time-traveling plot would have been a significant tonal shift for the sequel since the original Gladiator was more of a grounded historical drama. Although much about Scarpa’s Gladiator 2 script remains unknown, it already appears to be a more coherent narrative focused on Lucius.