Ridley Scott promised November this year the release of the sequel to Gladiator, the film that brings together new British talents (Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn), the film’s survivor, Connie Nielsen, a big star, Denzel Washington, and the man 2023, Pedro Pascal. Apart from Connie and Paul, who are confirmed as Lucilla and Lucius, the others are still in ‘mysterious’ roles, especially Pedro. This means that the Internet takes the opportunity to do what it loves most: theorize.

Part of what we ‘don’t know’ also comes from the interruption of filming due to strikes by actors and screenwriters, but, luckily, the director managed to film around 90 minutes of the film and took advantage of the time to edit the material during the strikes. Which doesn’t mean that the film was already ‘ready’. According to rumors, there is a scene with baboons, inspired by a real scene that distressed Scott when he saw tourists being attacked in South Africa and decided to use this in Gladiator 2, where the hero will go through the same trauma.

What we know is that the sequel moves forward years after the original and features an adult Lucius (Paul Mescal) and an older Lucilla (Connie Nielsen). Another who returns is Senator Gracchus (Derek Jacobi) and, although Gladiator 2 pays homage to the first, it will be completely new. This makes us ask: who is the “new” gladiator of the title. All bets point to Pedro Pascal, although with Lucius as the protagonist, the ‘substitute’ for Maximus (Russell Crowe) is a likely luxury supporting character.

The sequel to the film that won no less than 5 Oscars, including Best Actor in 2000, has been on the drawing board for more than 20 years, and the proposal was to have practically amended one into the other. The space of time can be good for bringing in a young audience, but also challenging those who didn’t follow the first one. Remembering that Gladiator mixed real characters – Commodus, Marcus Aurelius, Lucilla, Lucius – with fictional ones (Maximus), the formula will be the same.

The Truth about Commodus, Lucilla, and Lucius

The real Commodus (played by a stupendous Joaquin Phoenix, who deserved to have won the Oscar) was effectively made emperor at the age of 18 and was eventually assassinated, but not in an arena. He was famously a dictator and liked to fight in the Colosseum, as well as creating and leading the praetorian guard, but he had little involvement with the causes of Rome. His enemies decided that he would die at the turn of the year and on December 31st his food was poisoned, but as he vomited the poison, the conspirators sent their fighting partner, Narcissus, to strangle him in the bath. Commodus was drowned in the bathtub, marking the end of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty.

Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) also existed, she was Commodus’s older sister and conspired against him, as Gladiator shows, but for less noble reasons since historians point out that she was jealous of Empress Crispina, her brother’s wife. Her coup went wrong, the men who tried to kill the Emperor were executed, and Lucilla was exiled to Capri, eventually being killed as well. Still, people close to him that Commodus didn’t suspect continued to plot against him.

A real fact that will certainly be mentioned in Gladiator 2 is that after his death, the Senate declared Commodus a public enemy (danatio memoriae de facto) demolishing his statues and images. He was succeeded by Pertinax, whose reign was short, and when Rome came to be governed by Septimus Severus, who wanted to gain the favor of Marcus Aurelius’ family, the memory of Commodus was deified by the Senate.

As for Lucius, he actually existed too, but there are changes. Lucilla was the mother of two Luciuses: the first, Lucius Verus, born from her first marriage, and the second from her second marriage, Lucius Aurelius Commodus Pompeianus, better known as Pompeianus. Therefore, in Ridley Scott‘s vision, he brings together the two Luciuses into one. We know little about the first, about the second, what is official fuels speculation. Although books call him by his last name, we’ll keep the name from the movie.

Lucius served as a military tribune in the reign of Severus, reaching the rank of consul his year. Although he had a comparatively quieter life than Lucilla, he was also tragically involved in plots in later life. He was accused (wrongly, apparently) of being one of the murderers of Geta (Barry Keoghan), brother of Caracalla (Joseph Quinn), and executed by the Emperor.

So whether we’ll get a realistic ending we don’t know, but the fact that it’s already been announced that Joseph Quinn (who will always be remembered as Eddie from Stranger Things) will play Caracalla gives us confirmation of the historical period of Gladiator 2. Let’s leave Caracalla for another post and let’s move on to theories?

Would Maximus be remembered and who might Pedro Pascal be?

Some argue that Lucius Verus was secretly the son of Maximus and Lucilla, but those who thought that Russell Crowe would return in some way beyond the nominal quote have already given up because the actor (out of shape) is not in Gladiator 2. If he is to distance himself 100% from reality, we will have Lucius succeeding his cruel uncle, but then Was Caracalla competing with him? I already rule out that Lucilla placed her own son in such a risky position as ruler of Rome.

The likely plot will have the brothers Caracalla and Geta competing for the position of Emperor. I cited Barry Keoghan as Geta following the Internet trend that made the presumption when his name was confirmed in the cast that Joseph Quinn is officially Caracalla. As Consul, Lucius clearly supports Geta, which displeases the antagonist Caracalla. And it puts our protagonist at risk! It also brings importance to Pedro Pascal, who would be the man to seek Justice for Geta (or Lucius too?).

If this is the case, as the Internet has already researched, Pedro Pascal could then be a soldier who played an important role in Roman history: Justin Martialis. Martialis was one of Caracalla’s trusted men (and arm?) and part of the feared Praetorian guard. However, he was dissatisfied – this is the official version – with having been refused promotion to the position of centurion. Others claim that the praetorian prefect Macrinus, Caracalla’s immediate successor, saw the opportunity to use Martialis to end the villain’s reign, but we will not know how he convinced the soldier. Caracalla was stabbed to death by Martialis when he stopped briefly on the road to urinate. His killer was killed immediately. Three days later, Macrinus declared himself emperor with the support of the Roman army. If in fact, Pascal is Martialis, then technically we won’t have a ‘gladiator’, but Scott can make Martialis a hero.

If adaptation is the script’s option, then Martialis could be like Maximus, initially part of the Emperor’s force and then opposing it, but we can’t forget that Lucius will have to be involved. Martialis or Lucius will have to hide and will have the help of Juba (Djimon Hounsou), a fictional character who returns in the sequel and who features Denzel Washington in a role related to him. Juba is the one who fuels the legend and legacy of Maximus, with a Martialis perhaps taking inspiration from the hero. Again: Internet version! But plausible. And entertained!

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