Paul Mescal has addressed the possibility of returning for Gladiator 3, saying he would be “massively down” to star in it.
Ahead of the release of Gladiator 2, director Ridley Scott told The Hollywood Reporter that plans for a third film had already been put in place.
“I’d rather get on into Gladiator 3. There’s already an idea,” he said at the time.
Mescal, who stars as Lucius in the newly-released sequel, has now expressed his interest in reprising his role.
“Oh yeah, massively down,” he told Variety. “I don’t think it will be [24] years – but I have no idea when it will be.”
Gladiator 2 has performed well at the box office following its release in the UK and other territories last week, taking in $87million ($69million) in its first weekend.
As for the critical response, reviews have been mixed to positive, with the sequel currently holding a 74% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes – slightly lower than the score held by the original 2000 film starring Russell Crowe.
Reviewing Gladiator 2, NME‘s Alex Flood awarded the movie three stars and said: “If you loved Gladiator, it’s odds-on you’ll enjoy this too. It’s got all of the same exciting bits – swordfighting, rousing speeches, nasty poshos getting what they deserve.
“The problem is that’s all it gives you. You want to feel like you’re watching Maximus lift off his helmet and deliver that iconic monologue for the first time again. You want the thrill of a core memory being unlocked. You want to know you’ll be quoting Mescal’s lines to your mates in the pub for the next 10 years. Gladiator 2, piously respectful as it is, can only offer a faded memory of that experience. There was a dream that was Rome – and this is kind of it.”
The film’s concurrent release with Wicked in the US has prompted some to dub the phenomenon Glicked, in reference to last year’s Barbenheimer.