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So many productions have had to pause amid the SAG-AFTRA strike, and Ridley Scott's Paul Mescal-led Gladiator 2 is no exception. However, the long-awaited sequel was in a weird spot upon its production being halted.
Variety detailed the production of Gladiator 2 and the day the SAG-AFTRA strike kicked into gear. The report included that when Gladiator 2 was paused, Scott's production was in the midst of filming a “complex sequence” that involved Mescal and several hundred extras with the backdrop of a replica Colosseum.
After Scott and other producers sent a note to the crew that the production was shutting down, some of the Gladiator 2 cast including Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal booked flights out of Malta. The production being shut down has a great impact on a large number of people — Variety's report indicated that the production employed more than 400 people.
“There was just this sadness,” one source told Variety on the Gladiator 2 production halt. “We were completely out of the politics and just invested in the work. Now, a lot of people are going to lose their livelihoods, won't be able to keep up home payments, school payments.”
Gladiator 2 is the long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott's 2000 epic. The first film even won Best Picture at that year's Oscars. Paul Mescal, who's coming off an Oscar-nominated performance himself in Charlotte Wells' Aftersun, will star as Lucius — the nephew of Commodus (who was played by Joaquin Phoenix in the 2000 film). Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Stranger Things alum Joseph Quinn, and May Calamawy make their franchise debuts in the sequel. Connie Nielsen, Derek Jacobi, and Djimon Hounsou make their returns to the franchise.
Gladiator 2 is scheduled to be released on November 22, 2024.
