Paul Mescal swings a sword masterfully in the first trailer for Sir Ridley Scott’s long-awaited Gladiator 2, which shows naval battles and a brutal rhino fight in the ring.
There’s also a brief glimpse of Russell Crowe’s original lead character Maximus at the start of the three-minute trailer, throwing the new movie back to its origins and showing it intends to honour those.
‘I remember that day,’ recalls Mescal’s character Lucius as he visits a tribute honouring Maximus with the old gladiator’s weapon.
It then cuts to clips from Gladiator showing Crowe prepare for his fateful fight in the arena and Spencer Treat Clark as the young Lucius watching him.
‘I never forgot it – that a slave could take revenge against an emperor,’ he adds, as it cuts back to Mescal’s Lucius, with his head covered in blood, as he shares the memory.
It’s then revealed that he is talking with Denzel Washington’s gladiator sponsor Macrinus, who declares he will use Lucius – who does not know either of his parents – as his ‘instrument’.
From Gladiator, we know that Lucius is the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, who was a former lover of Maximus.
In the trailer, the two are shown meeting in the bowels of the arena, with Lucilla telling him: ‘This ring belonged to Maximus. Now I give it to you.’
Confirming the rumours of huge spectacle in Gladiator 2 – which is officially titled as Gladiator II – the Colosseum is seen filled with water to recreate epic ocean-based clashes, with Lucius performing in them for the entertainment of corrupt co-emperors Caracalla and Geta, played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger.
‘Rome has so many subjects – she must feed them,’ Pedro Pascal is seen urging as Marcus Acacius, a Roman general said to have trained as a junior officer under Crowe’s character.
He is also set up to fight against Mescal in a bid to curb Lucius’s rage.
Other scenes glimpsed include a female gladiator, as well as Lucius coordinating a fearsome fight with a blood-soaked, growling rhino who charges at him, knocking him into the air.