Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Gladiator II.
Gladiator IIproducer Douglas Wick addresses why Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal) chooses to stay in Rome at the end of the sequel.Lucius was born in Rome and is descended from several notable Romans, with his parents being Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) and Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), and his grandfather being Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). However, Lucius spent most of his life in Numidia and did not embrace his heritage untilGladiator II’s ending.
While speaking withThe Hollywood Reporter,Wick discusses how Gladiator II is"a homecoming"for Lucius. He discusses how the sequel’s creative team, including director Ridley Scott, mapped out Lucius' journey and the movie’s final image, which highlight how Lucius is forced to reconcile with his identity as a Roman. Wick also shares why this was a more satisfying trajectory for Lucius than seeing him destroy Rome, along with other narrative challenges that he and the creative team faced. Check out his comments below:
Besides the idea of Lucius as the lost prince, it was someone who hated everything about Rome, making the movie a homecoming. We know enough about movies to know that the more they’re about family, the more solid you are. We then talked for a long time about what the ending of Lucius’s journey would be. He’d return, he’d possibly reunite with his mother, but would he burn down the Colosseum and leave? And many of our breakthroughs were visual because Ridley thinks visually. As we would talk about all these thematics, he’d always look a little bored, and then he’d come in with a visual solution. And his visual solution to the end involved Lucius being pulled like a magnet towards his destiny as a Roman and his destiny with his family. All of his attempts to cut away his past, to cauterize himself and separate himself from it, would fail.
As much as Lucius hated Rome and wanted to be no part of Rome, the events have swept him along to where he is very much a Roman. So Ridley’s idea for the very last image is that it then dawns on him that it’s happened. We suddenly had a beginning and an end, and that’s when we knew we had the movie. There were a lot of other challenges including the antagonist, because we didn’t want the antagonist to be another depraved emperor. So there was a long journey to Macrinus [Denzel Washington]. Also, all period movies have to be a mirror to our times or they don’t deserve to live. And the idea of billionaires on both the left and the right who are more and more buying their way into government is a very modern story. So there were a lot of pieces of the puzzle.
What This Means for Gladiator III
Lucius Is Now The Future Of Rome
Lucius' ending sets up a very different story fromGladiatorandGladiator II.Scott has begun writingGladiator III, which would not be a revenge story like its predecessors. He has discussed howthe second movie ends with Lucius getting"a job he didn’t want"and a third movie would explore this further as Lucius navigates the challenges of leading Rome. This would force him to reconcile with his Roman identity beyond the progress he has already made.
Every Real Person In Gladiator 2 & What Happened To Them In Real Life
Gladiator II follows in the footsteps of the first Gladiator movie by featuring many characters based on or inspired by real historical figures.
Not only would Lucius need to accept inGladiator IIIthat he is Roman, but he would need to accept the reality that he is now a Roman politician. BothGladiatormovies are political, and Wick emphasizes how the choice to make Macrinus (Denzel Washington) the ultimate villain ofGladiator IIprovides timely political commentary.Gladiator IIIwould likely be the franchise’s most political movie yet, given Lucius' new power and the power he is now expected to hold given his actions and his heritage.
Our Take On Douglas Wick’s Comments
Lucius' Relationship To Rome Makes Him Distinct From Maximus
Gladiator II’s charactersand plot feel overly similar at times to the first movie. Lucius' identity struggles and what that means for the future is an important way in which the sequel distinguishes itself from its predecessor. Maximus wanted revenge, but there was never any question about him being Roman. With Maximus dying at the end of the movie, he also did not have to live with the consequences of his actions.Gladiator IIensures that Lucius' internal struggle is meaningfully distinct from his father, despite the parallels, and the differences will only become more prominent inGladiator III.
Gladiator II
Cast
Gladiator 2 is the follow-up to Ridley Scott’s award-winning film Gladiator from 2000. Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal staring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Gladiator 2 had been stuck in development hell for years before a script written by David Scarpa finally moved forward.
