More than two decades since its critically acclaimed, award winning release, a sequel to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator is now in development. Despite the ending of the first movie seemingly wrapping everything up, Scott has revealed that the script for Gladiator 2 has now been written, and that, thankfully, they have found a “logical” way to continue the legacy of Maximus.

”Oh, it’s been written. It’s already been written. We have a good footprint, a good, logical place to go. You can’t just do another Gladiator type movie. You’ve got to follow…there’s enough components from the first one to pick up the ball and continue it."

There have been rumblings of a Gladiator sequel in the past, with the “logical” way back into the story expected to be the continuing adventures of Lucius Verus, the young son of Lucilla, played in the first movie by Spencer Treat Clark. Way back in 2001, the apparent storyline for a proposed follow-up would have followed Lucius fifteen years after the first movie, and picked up with an older-aged Lucius searching for the truth about his biological father, Lucius discovering that he is in fact the secret son of Maximus.

Recent rumors have suggested that this could still be the idea behind Gladiator 2, with Gladiator star Russell Crowe reportedly favoring Thor: Love and Thunder star Chris Hemsworth to lead the project as the son of Maximus. "Russell thinks he could be the only man to credibly play his son in a Gladiator sequel," explained a source, with the same insider further claiming that both Crowe and Hemsworth, who will unite for the Thor sequel, are "carefully considering the concept" for Gladiator 2 and have "spent hours musing over script ideas."

However, not long after the first movie’s release, Nick Cave was commissioned to write a new draft of a sequel script, with the project leaning much more heavily into the fantasy genre. Describing the plot as a "deities vs. deity vs. humanity" story, the premise would have seen Maximus in purgatory, before being resurrected as an immortal warrior, fighting amongst the Crusades, WWII, and the Vietnam War; with the ending revealing that in the modern-day time period, the character now works at The Pentagon. Admittedly, it’s much more likely that the older Lucius is the more logical angle, but it’s hard not to hope that the fantastical Gladiator 2 is the one being crafted right now. If only because it sounds like the craziest Gladiator sequel possible.

Ridley Scott recently declared his determination at bringing Gladiator 2 to the big screen, believing that it would be “critically stupid” not to make the long, long-awaited sequel. "How could I not do that? It would be critically stupid of me not to do that, wouldn't it?" he said. Gladiator 2 will reportedly be Scott’s next project following the release of Kitbag, starring Joaquin Phoenix, which will delve into Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power as a 19th-century leader. This comes to us from Deadline.