Fred Hechinger, May Calamawy and others join the cast of Gladiator 2

Fred Hechinger, May Calamawy, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Peter Mensah, and Matt Lucas are the newest to join the cast of the highly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott's 2000 hit Gladiator.  

Fred Hechinger is reportedly in talks to portray Emperor Geta, which was originally pitched to Barry Keoghan. Keoghan has reportedly dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts. None of the other roles for the new cast have been revealed, except for Jacobi. He will be returning to his legacy character as Senator Gracchus from the original film. The previously announced ensemble cast includes Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Pedro Pascal, and Connie Nielsen. 

While Mescal will be seen as Lucius, who is the son of Russel Crowe’s Maximus, Nielsen will be reprising her role as Lucilla from the first film. 

The film will follow the story of Lucius as a grown man. The script of Gladiator 2 is being developed by David Scarpa. The 2000 film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and bagged 5 awards including the Best Picture award. Gladiator 2 is currently scheduled to release on November 22, 2024.