MOVIE NEWS – Yes, indeed, Gladiator 2 is currently in production with Ridley Scott, who will direct the second movie as well.

The first Gladiator movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and actually won 5 of them, containing Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe. Scott spoke about making a sequel for some time now and confessed last year that he had the perfect idea for it. Top Gun 2 writer Peter Craig write the script for the upcoming sequel. As you all know, Crowe’s Maximus character famously died the first film, so many people are wondering how the sequel will move forward.

It’s also unclear at this time if Russell Crowe will return for Gladiator 2, but Ridley Scott has spoken about bringing him back numerous times over the years. For now, it looks like the story will centre on Lucius, who is the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) in the original movie. Lucius is the nephew of the wicked Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Commodus killed Russell Crowe‘s Maximus at the end of the film. However, before Maximus died, he saved the lives of Lucius and Lucilla.

It’s also believed that production on Gladiator 2 could actually happen pretty quickly. Ridley Scott is right now preparing to make Raised by Wolves, which is his first television series, for the TNT network. Still, the Gladiator sequel is now reportedly being locked in as his next project. Gladiator 2 is in production at Paramount this time around, and Universal reportedly has an option to co-finance. DreamWorks will not have a hand in making the sequel. Regardless of who gets cast, this is going to be a massive movie upon its release.

Still, Ridley Scott did not reveal his brilliant idea for Gladiator 2 so far, but he did say that it would involve bringing back Russell Crowe‘s Maximus. The director seemed very confident about his approach at the time, but it is unknown if the sequel will still follow Scott’s original plan. Scott had this to say about Gladiator 2 and getting back Crowe last year at SXSW film festival.

“I know how to bring him back. I had this talk with the studio, but he’s dead. However, there is a way of bringing him back. Whether it will happen, I don’t know. Gladiator was 2000, so Russell’s changed a little bit. He’s doing something right now, but I’m trying to get him back down here.”

Crowe allegedly had rocker Nick Cave pen a script for the sequel as well, so the interest is there. Since the sequel is reportedly on the fast track, we will find out soon enough. With that being said, it’s still going to take some time to get everything prepared in the right way for the sequel. The Gladiator 2 news was first revealed by Deadline.