Gladiator II distributor Paramount Pictures dropped another trailer for the Ridley Scott directorial and shared the India release date for the film. It will hit theatres in India on November 15, a week before the US release, in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, and Denzel Washington in key roles, the film is an official sequel to Scott's Oscar Best Picture winner Gladiator.
The new trailer for the Gladiator sequel starts with a battle sequence showing a horde of ships attacking Rome and goes on to give a glimpse into the characters in the film, including slave-turned-gladiator Lucius (Mescal) and Roman general Marcus Acacius (Pascal). Lucius is reportedly the son of Nielsen's character Lucilla and the nephew of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) from the first part. Spencer Treat Clark played Lucius as a child in Gladiator, something that the first trailer for the sequel also shows. Going by the trailers, Lucius seems like a Maximus-inspired character who takes on not just Marcus but also the two Roman emperors, played by Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn, respectively.
Washington plays Macrinus, who is described as a "Roman powerbroker". Macrinus seems like an ally to Lucius, a bit like how Djimon Hounsou is to Maximus in the first film.
Scott directed Gladiator II from a David Scarpa screenplay, based on a story by Peter Craig and the characters created by David Franzoni.
