In a parallel universe Gladiator 2 featured not Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascalgoing head-to-head in the arena – but rather a deceased Maximus as he wakes up in the afterlife.
The highly-anticipated sequel to the Oscar-winning 2000 historic drama from Ridley Scott picks up years after gladiator Maximus’ (Russell Crowe) death as we meet his and Lucilla’s (Connie Nielsen) son Lucius and his bloody thirst for revenge.
But things could have looked a lot different.
After the roaring success of the original movie, Russell was keen to star in a possible sequel. There was just one small caveat, his character was dead.
Not one to be deterred by something as measly as mortality, the 60-year-old Hollywood star ditched the Gladiator screenwriter John Logan and instead commissioned Australian writer and musician Nick Cave.
Enthused by the prospect of penning an out-of-the-box sequel, the one-time filmmaker briefly split his focus from his music and concocted one of the wildest film plot’s of all time.
Enter Maximus, freshly dead, and blinking his eyes open in the netherworld and soon stumbles open Jupiter, alongside a handful of other Roman deities.
He informs Maximus that Hephaestus has betrayed them and is spreading the word of a higher god.
His task? Kill Hephaestus to ensure he will be reunited with his wife and child in the fields of Elysium.
But soon enough his plan goes to shambles when he re-enters the human world and encounters (in this version) the villainous Lucius that leads to a dramatic showdown.
It’s a convoluted and far-fetched plot to say the least and, as per the BBC, Russell was quick to reject it, simply saying: ‘Don’t like it mate’.
And it seems Ridley was not convinced by his vision either, recently telling the New York Times: ‘It got too grand. Nick is very high theatre, and Steven Spielberg [who was consulted on the original film] said, “Nah”.
‘I wasn’t confident about what we had actually put together, so I just let it go.’
In fact, he even tried to discuss a potential sequel with Russell a few years after the first.
He continued: ‘Russell said, “What can we do? I’m dead.” I suddenly thought there’s a way of bringing him back from the dead: As a man dies in battle, that is the opportunity to come from the dead side into the life side, to come back in the body of a soldier.
‘I said, “The problem is, Russell, either you’re going to be the double of Maximus or you’re going to have to be somebody else.”‘ Clearly a decision couldn’t be landed upon.
None of this seemed to bother the music artist who, at one time, admitted: ‘I enjoyed writing it very much because I knew on every level that it was never going to get made.’
So there we have it, the sequel that never was.
Now that this new version is coming out, however, the Les Misérables star has expressed his discontent at the premise.
‘I’m slightly uncomfortable with the fact they’re making another one because, of course, I’m dead and I have no say in what gets done,’ he told US podcast Kyle Meredith with… over the summer.
‘But a couple of the things I’ve heard I’m like “No, no, no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character”. But I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six foot under. So we’ll see what that is like.’
The movie, which landed in UK cinemas on Friday, has had a positive reception and secured a modest 76% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Metro’s four-star review reads: ‘The ambitious scope of the film and the effort that has gone into it is quite something to behold – nobody else is making movies like this anymore.
‘I may have quibbles but Gladiator 2 is compelling and, most importantly, entertaining.’