“Parallel to Lucius”: Ridley Scott Reveals Denzel Washington’s “Bad-Ass Role” in “Gladiator 2”

Just last week, Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon” hit German cinemas and has already attracted more than 260,000 viewers to cinemas in this country. However, that is no reason for the ‘Alien’ director to rest. Instead, Scott has another historical film in the starting blocks next year, which is no less highly anticipated than his biopic ‘Napoleon’ with Joaquin Phoenix.

After 24 years, the sequel to “Gladiator” is finally coming, but this time Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”) will take on the role of the title hero instead of Russell Crowe. Joining him will be “The Mandalorian” stars Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington, whose exact roles have been kept secret until now. Scott only recently announced that he had tailor-made a ‘bad-ass role’ for Washington. In an interview with The director has now revealed in-depth details about the “Equalizer” star in “Gladiator 2“.

Denzel Washington plays an arms dealer with a big secret in Gladiator 2

So Scott explained interviewthat is it with the role of Denzel Washington would behave parallel to the leading role of Paul Mescal of the young gladiator Lucius: “There is a parallel figure, a businessman who supplies the Romans with weapons and oil when they travel and who gives them wine to drink. They would not drink water, only wine. When they travel, who would provide them with carts and horses? There must have been arms dealers from that time: and here is a man who got rich supplying these weapons and catapults.”

However, this arms dealer has a secret history as a gladiator, which he now exploits for his own strength: “As a hobby, he actually has a racing team, only they are gladiators. And he has a stable of 30 to 40 gladiators. He likes to see them fight because that’s where he comes from. He was captured in North Africa and fought his way to become a free man because he was a good gladiator. But he hides it because he now understands the extent of his power. He is richer than most senators and he already has a possible plan in mind to take power from the two crazy princes.”

Joining Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal in the second lead role will be May Calamawy (“Moon Knight”), Fred Hechinger (“The White Lotus”) as the villain and young Emperor Geta, Derek Jacobi (“Euphoria” ) and Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things”) will be in attendance. Connie Nielsen and Djimon Hounsou, who already appeared in ‘Gladiator’, also return for the historical sequel, which will take place more than 15 years after the first part.

“Gladiator 2” will hit German cinemas on November 21, 2024.