Set 16 years after Crowe's hero Maximus died in the original 2000 "Gladiator" film, the sequel follows Mescal's character Lucius, a prisoner taken to Rome after his homeland is conquered by a fleet of Roman warships led by General Acacius,

Gladiator II star Paul Mescal wanted to separate himself as much as possible from the first movie.

Gladiator II” may have taken over two decades to come to fruition, but star Paul Mescal is already thinking about a third installment of Ridley Scott’s epic. When asked by Variety at the film’s London premiere if he’d want to make “Gladiator 3,

Paul Mescal is “massively down” for a third ‘Gladiator’ movie and has joked it hopefully won't take another 24 years to make.