Gladiator 2: Ridley Scott reveals details about Denzel Washington’s character in the upcoming sequel

The strikes have subsided and Ridley Scott has been able to restart his production on Gladiator 2. The director isn’t one for sitting around while things were on hiatus, so he’s said he’s been working out certain production logistics during the time off. Scott recently caught up with Deadline to talk about his new film Napoleon, as well as reveal some new details on Gladiator 2. Scott stated that the production reconvenes in a couple of weeks and is hoping his actors have stayed at their fight weight during the downtime, “Paul Mescal is really very fit and stays that way. I haven’t seen the other ones yet, so I hope they’re not porked up.”

While speaking about the physical fitness of his actors, it was brought up that Denzel Washington is working out hard for this project. The interviewer throws back to Scott’s last collaboration with Washington on American Gangster, citing how badass he was in that and Scott replied, “That is his thing. I think it’s his manner, and obviously he’s actually in a bad mood. I think it’s just the way he is. He tends to be abrupt. You got to get used to that. But nevertheless, he’s quite charming.” While not much has been revealed about the plot of Gladiator 2, the casting of Washington lends some extra acting gravitas to the new film since Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix obviously cannot reprise their roles from the original. However, Scott has now unveiled the context of Washington’s character in the upcoming story.

Scott explains that Denzel’s character is parallel to Lucius, “There’s a parallel character, the owner of a business that supplied weapons for the Romans, who supplied the oil when they traveled, who supplied the wine they drink. They wouldn’t drink water, they drank wine. When they traveled, who would supply wagons and horses and tack? There had to be the arms dealers of the period; here is a man who already rich from supplying the weapons, the catapults. His hobby is like a racing stable except it’s gladiators. He’s got a stable of 30 or 40 gladiators. He likes to actually see them fight and it evolves that that’s where he came from. He was captured in North Africa, and evolved into a free man because he was a good gladiator. But he hides that because also he’s now realizing the potential of his actual power. He’s wealthier than most senators, so already has thoughts and designs of the possible idea of taking power from these two crazy princes.”