Russell Crowe Reveals He Has No Involvement in ‘Gladiator 2’ But Wishes Paul Mescal ‘Luck’ With It

Russell Crowe is sharing his first thoughts about the upcoming Gladiator sequel, which will star Paul Mescal.

The 58-year-old actor starred in the original 2000 film from Ridley Scott, which was about a once-powerful general forced to become a common gladiator.

Now, Paul, as well as Barry Keoghan and Denzel Washington are set to star in the new film, that is reported to be out in 2024.

During an appearance on RTÉ Radio One’s The Ryan Tubridy Show, Russell revealed that he’s actually not involved at all in the sequel.

Instead, the movie will be set 20 years in the future and center on Paul‘s Lucius, the nephew of since-deceased Commodus who was killed by Maximus, whom Russell portrayed.

“I’m sure at some point in time they’ll want to ask me about something, but they haven’t brought anything up in a while,” he shared. “It’s an extension of the narrative, but it is long beyond Maximus’ passing, so it doesn’t really involve me at all.”

Russell added that he hears “that young fella Paul is a good dude and I wish him the best of luck with it. I think where they’re picking the story up from, a young Lucius, stepping into the role of emperor. I think that’s a very smart idea within the world of the film that we created.”

While he’s not involved with production, Russell did note that a lot of his friends will probably working on the movie: “I already know designers and leather workers making the armor and things like that.”

“I don’t want to dwell on it too much because it does take me back to a period of time when obviously I was significantly younger. And you know, the rose-colored glasses of that experience now are perfectly crystallized,” he says. “I look back on it and I loved every minute of it, and that wasn’t actually the case at the time.”

“I do like being on a period movie set. Stepping into those sorts of costumes and those sorts of situations and stuff, it has great appeal to me,” Russell shared, looking back at it. “There’s a slight edge of jealousy that people get to have that experience that I had once.”

For Paul, he’s looking to make more indie movies. Find out why…