How Gladiator 2 Almost Brought Back Russell Crowe’s Maximus

We waited a long, long time for director Ridley Scott to make a sequel to his beloved 2000 Best Picture-winning classic, “Gladiator.” That sequel arrived in late 2024 in the form of “Gladiator II.” Though not nearly as roundly praised as its predecessor, the sequel did finish as one of the highest-grossing movies of the year, and it did so without bringing back its previous star, Oscar-winner Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius. That’s because Maximus died in the first one … but that didn’t prevent the writers from trying to bring him back anyway.

In a recent interview with The Direct, screenwriter Peter Craig revealed that there was, at one point, a scene that would have brought back Crowe as Maximus. This would have taken place towards the end of the film and it would have happened via a flashback with Paul Mescal’s Lucius, who (spoiler alert) is actually Maximus’ son. Here’s what Craig had to say about it:

“There was an idea that the Romans had that you could talk to your ancestors, and they have these underground catacombs where people’s urns and ashes and bones were all buried beneath the city. There had been a scene where once Lucius finds out that it’s his father, he goes down there and he finds his grave. And there was just going to be a really brief flashback with Russell.”

For what it’s worth, only two actors from the first “Gladiator” returned in the sequel: Connie Nielsen (Lucilla) and Derek Jacobi (Senator Gracchus). So it’s not as though Crowe was missing out on some big reunion. Still, it’s easy to see why Craig and Scott at least considered this option.

For better or worse, Maximus cast a very large shadow over the sequel, even though Crowe doesn’t actually appear in the film. There were different versions of the sequel floated over the years, but Scott finally felt like it was the right time to make “Gladiator II.” Doing so without the people that made the original such a big hit was a tall order.

Several other writers, along with Scott, ultimately crafted the story that we saw unfold in the sequel. The director ended up being a big fan of how it turned out, as he’s already announced plans for a potential “Gladiator 3” with Paul Mescal returning. Craig, for his part, feels they made the right call in leaving this flashback scene out of the movie:

“I think they probably made the right decision not using it. But I was on that with Ridley [Scott] for a while … I sort of gave them a big menu of stuff, and they selected some things from it, and I think they left a lot of the right stuff off of it.”

Whether or not the sequel was a satisfying follow-up is largely a matter of individual taste. A cameo from Crowe probably wouldn’t have moved the needle too much either way, but it might have felt a bit forced. “Gladiator II” has been criticized for its lack of historical accuracy, but again, Scott isn’t setting out to make an accurate historical epic. Are you not entertained, he might ask?

You can grab “Gladiator II” on 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD from Amazon.