Joaquin Phoenix’s Emperor Commodus from the original Gladiator movie remains one of the most memorable depictions of onscreen villainy this century. A portrait of what happens when immense insecurity meets unchecked power—plus a twisted riff on an Oedipal complex by way of his older sister and the father who never loved him—it was a thrill when this fiend finally entered the arena and faced Maximus. We wanted to see Russell Crowe bloody his toga.
Now 24 years later, Gladiator II promises to have its own epic showdown between Paul Mescal as Lucius, our heroic and insubordinate gladiator champion, and Pedro Pascal as his chief rival, the Roman General Marcus Acacius. All the marketing until now is building to the anticipation of watching these men face each other in the arena… but if you study the newest trailer for Gladiator II a little more closely (and as available above), a plot begins to come into focus which promises to make Acacius a wholly different kind of adversary from Emperor Commodus. And at this point, we wonder if Pedro Pascal will even play a true villain.
Ridley Scott‘s new Gladiator II trailer certainly clarifies the basic plot points after the more chaotic earlier teaser. In this one, we discover why Lucius would hate the Roman military so much: the trailer opens with him living a peaceful life with a wife and child—this sounds familiar, no?—before a Roman legion wipes out his homeland. For the record, that land is Numidia, a territory in North Africa (modern day Algeria) that became a Roman province after its conquest. Based on what we see in the trailer, Gladiator II will begin with Acacius commanding a force that decimates Lucius’ community and ends with the hero being sold into bondage. Slavery.
What’s not in the trailer, however, is the fact that Mescal’s character is also supposed to be the young Lucius from the original Gladiator, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and the one-time heir to the throne of Rome. When that first movie ended, Lucilla and a few noble senators waxed poetic about restoring Rome to its republic roots, but anyone who knows history should have expected that plan to be short-lived. Following the death of the real-life Commodus, Rome enjoyed the “Year of the Five Emperors” where various military generals and war heroes were elevated to the lofty rank of first citizen (or seized that elevation in the vacuum of power).
In other words, the Roman military’s previous actions must have led Lucius to living in exile in a remote North African outpost. Then decades later, the Roman military rolls up again and kills his family while enslaving him. So yes, he has plenty of reason to despise the Roman legions, and perhaps Acacius more than any other member of them. The Gladiator II trailer shows Mescal fantasizing about killing Pascal in particular.
… And yet, if you keep watching, it becomes clear Acacius is not the pure model of corruption and cunning that Commodus represented in the original movie. The way Pascal intones, “I claim this city for the glory of Rome” as his men descend on Lucius’ hometown has an air of resignation to it. Later it appears he says, “I don’t fight for power, I fight to free Rome from men like him.” If that is indeed Pascal talking, he seems to be organizing or instigating an insurrection against the film’s actual Roman emperors in the film, brothers Caracalla and Geta (Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn). And it is definitely Pascal’s general threatening one of his emperors later in the trailer when he says, “Everything is forgotten in time. Empires fall and so do emperors.”
At a glance, it would seem that while the film and Rome itself seem eager to put Lucius and Acacius on a collision course, the pair actually share the same goals: ending the current decadence and excesses of Rome. For Lucius it might be out of revenge, but for Acacius it could prove something more complex and interesting. Consider that even in ancient Rome, citizens grappled with the ugly legacy and downsides of imperialism. Roman historian Tacitus famously said, “They create desolation and call it peace” about the empire’s conquests more than a hundred years before Gladiator II is set.
It would seem Pedro Pascal plays an antagonist who is only too aware of the sins found in the glory of Rome. If so, when Acacius is inevitably forced to cross swords with Lucius, it will be less a moment of anticipation than one of dread.
Gladiator II opens on Nov. 22.
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