With the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike now over, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 is expected to resume production in the near future — just as soon as the deteriorating sets in Malta get a little bit of touching up.
Per Variety, Gladiator 2 is one of many Hollywood movies that is now resuming production since the actors strike ended. Filming for Gladiator 2 originally began in June 2023 and was expected to last four months before production shut down when the SAG-AFTRA strike began on July 14, 2023.
“Gladiator 2 will be resuming production on the island, where a gigantic ancient Rome open-air set that includes a life-sized Coliseum has been deteriorating since July 14 when the sequel was shut down,” Variety’s article states. “The sets will now need plenty of touching up.”
What do we know about Gladiator 2?
A sequel to 2000’s Gladiator, which was directed by Scott and starred Russell Crowe, Gladiator 2 stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus. Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou, and Derek Jacobi are reprising their respective roles from the original film, while Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Pedro Pascal, May Calamawy, Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, and Matt Lucas have also been cast.
Speaking with Total Film Magazine in a recent interview, Scott explained why Gladiator 2 took over two decades to make. “It didn’t have a script [before],” he said. “We tried, actually, four years ago, and I chose a very good writer who couldn’t get his head around it. He wrestled. He was terribly upset that he didn’t deliver. He’s a friend of mine. I said, ‘You’re not getting there?’ He said, ‘No.’”
A joint-venture production between Paramount, Universal Pictures, Scott Free Productions, and Parkes/MacDonald Productions, Gladiator 2 is currently dated for November 22, 2024.
