The Original Gladiator 2 Script: How Much Was Real And How Much Was Completely Made Up? (2024)

Long before Gladiator 2's release in 2024, a script was written that provided a wildly different direction for the sequel. Even though the original Gladiator ending concludes with the death of the protagonist, Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), who gets his revenge and restores Rome as Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) intended, there was still interest in a sequel. Part of this interest came from the project's financial success, as it proved to be a box office hit and was the second highest-grossing movie at the worldwide box office in 2000 (via Box Office Mojo).

Interest in the sequel went beyond the financial incentives, though, as director Ridley Scott and Crowe had ideas about seeing the story continue with Gladiator 2. Of course, one of the most significant challenges for a sequel was how it could incorporate Maximus at the center of its story, considering his fate in the first movie. This led to a script being written at Crowe's request by his good friend and famous musician Nick Cave, which took Maximus' story in surprising new directions.

Nick Cave's Original Gladiator 2 Script Explained

Maximus Was Resurrected

Nick Cave's Gladiator 2 script featured Maximus in purgatory following his death in the original Gladiator movie. However, Maximus' fate was not to spend eternity in the afterlife, as he was resurrected by the gods in Roman mythology. The Roman gods were concerned about the rise of Christianity and the effect it was having on their power, so they sent Maximus back to Earth with a mission to kill Jesus and his disciples, and thereby stop Christianity from spreading across the globe.

Along the way, Maximus is tricked into killing his son and his resurrection is permanent, as he is cursed to live forever. The ending would have seen Maximus fighting in war for centuries to come, including the Crusades, World War II, the Vietnam War, and even working at the Pentagon in the present day. Cave's script found a way to bring Maximus back and still have him be at the heart of the story, but it was not received well, and did not move forward with further development.

Gladiator 2's Original Script Was Not Rooted In Real History

It Was a Mythological Fantasy

Instead of being rooted in the real history of Ancient Rome, Cave's Gladiator 2 script was more of a mythological and fantastical story. The premise hinged on mythological deities resurrecting Maximus from the afterlife to protect their own omnipotence. While Maximus is still the protagonist, he is ultimately a pawn in the Roman gods' war against Christianity, and his resurrection becomes even more fantastical with him being cursed to live forever.

Gladiator and the final version of Gladiator 2 take significant liberties with real history. Nevertheless, they are still largely grounded in real historical figures and events, including gladiators fighting in the Colosseum and the importance of individuals like Marcus Aurelius and Gladiator 2's Emperor Caracalla and Emperor Geta (Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn). Cave's Gladiator 2 was not a historical epic like its predecessor and was instead a mythological fantasy story, as the sequel's genre completely shifts from what came before.

Why Nick Cave's Original Gladiator 2 Script Was Never Made

It Was Not A Worthy Successor

Even though Cave wrote the script at Crowe's request, the actor did not like the direction that the sequel's story went in. Even if Crowe had approved of the script, it still would have been difficult to get Scott and the studio behind the radical story. It contained few of the elements that made the first Gladiator a hit and was fundamentally an entirely different and even disconnected story. The focus on murdering Jesus and stopping the spread of Christianity would inevitably have been met with significant backlash as well.

Cave's script also undermines Maximus' original arc and the emotional impact of Gladiator's perfect ending. Instead of dying as a free man who accomplished everything he set out to do, Maximus would have become a puppet of the Roman gods as he loses the agency he regained in Gladiator. The knife would have been even further twisted with Maximus being tricked into killing his son after managing to save his loved ones and Rome at the end of the previous movie.

Continuing the story with Maximus' son, Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal), is a more feasible direction to take the sequel in that does not retroactively cheapen Maximus' arc. The 2024 version of Gladiator 2 is still a historical epic and feels more tonally consistent with the first movie, although it still has key differences, including where the new character, Macrinus (Denzel Washington), is concerned. Cave's Gladiator 2 story is wildly entertaining, but it contained too many issues to have ever worked.

Source: Box Office Mojo

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Gladiator II

Action

Drama

Epic

History

Adventure

Gladiator 2 is the follow-up to Ridley Scott's award-winning film Gladiator from 2000. Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal staring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Gladiator 2 had been stuck in development hell for years before a script written by David Scarpa finally moved forward.

Director

Ridley Scott

Release Date

November 22, 2024

Writers

David Scarpa , Peter Craig , David Franzoni

Cast

Paul Mescal , Pedro Pascal , Denzel Washington , Connie Nielsen , Joseph Quinn , Fred Hechinger , Derek Jacobi , May Calamawy , Peter Mensah , Matt Lucas , Alexander Karim , Tim McInnerny , Lee Charles , Chidi Ajufo , Alfie Tempest , Riana Duce , Chi Lewis Parry , Paul Candelent , Hadrian Howard , Alexander Simkin , Mikhail Basmadjian , Matthew Charlery-Smith , Maxime Durand , Lior Raz