GLADIATOR 2 Director Ridley Scott Offers Interesting New Story Details Involving Lucius

Ridley Scott is preparing to get back to work on Gladiator 2 now that the strike has ended and the film is scheduled to resume production next week. There’s not much known about the story and all the details that have been revealed have been pretty vague.

The sequel centers on Lucius, the son of Lucilla, and nephew of Commodus, the son of Roman leader Marcus Aurelius who murdered his father and seized the throne. Commodus met his downfall in the gladiator ring against Maximus, who despite being mortally wounded, took down the emperor before passing on to reunite with his family. Maximus had saved Lucius and his mother, leaving a lasting impact on the young boy.

Scott has now revealed some interesting new story details, specifically for Lucius, who is played by Paul Mescal in the movie. While speaking with Rotten Tomatoes, the filmmaker provided the following piece of information about what’s going on with Lucius in Gladiator 2:

“[Lucius] has been out in the wilderness for.. let’s see, we last saw him when he was 12. It’s about 12, 15 years later, he’s been out in the wilderness having lost touch with his mother. His mother lost touch with him. She doesn’t know where he is. She thinks he might be dead.”

That’s not the direction I was thinking they’d take with Lucius, but I like it, and learning this bit of information actually makes me a little more excited about the movie. It’ll be interesting to find out what exactly prompted Lucius to run away into the wilderness. I’m sure it has something to do with the events of Gladiaor though with witnessing the death of his uncle and Maximus.

The movie also stars Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen back as Lucilla, and Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn as Emperor Caracalla. Fred Hechinger will also play Emperor Geta.

What are your thoughts on these first story details?