Is ‘Gladiator II’ a Sequel?

Gladiator II has officially stepped into the hype ring, with the first trailer having made its rounds over the last few days and Paul Mescal officially sounding the gong on “Glicked,” the first response to Barbenheimer that actually has potential.

And by all appearances, the hype is well-deserved. Several members of the original 2000 film’s crew (most notably director-producer Ridley Scott and lead actress Connie Nielsen) are back on board for round two, and with such talents like Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and the great Denzel Washington also among the ranks, Gladiator II certainly makes a case for itself as a worthy rival to Jon M. Chu’s musical juggernaut.

Speaking of round two, is Gladiator II, in fact, a direct sequel to Scott’s original film?

Is Gladiator II a sequel?

Yes, Gladiator II is a direct sequel to 2000’s Gladiator—not a standalone sequel, not a spinoff, but a well-and-truly proper sequel.

Appropriately enough, Gladiator II is set two decades after Gladiator, and stars Mescal as the film’s protagonist, Lucius. This character is the grandson of Marcus Aurelius (played by Richard Harris in the previous film), and the son of Nielsen’s Lucilla (who, as mentioned previously, the actress also portrayed in Gladiator).

Furthermore, it’s the tale of Russell Crowe’s Gladiator character Maximus that inspires Lucius to participate in gladiatorial combat, defying co-emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) after he and his people were captured by the Romans and forced into slavery.

It’s certainly an interesting way to tie the canon together; rather than have the sequel directly respond to the events of its predecessor, the story of that very predecessor is acknowledged as a legend of sorts by Gladiator II‘s characters, who subsequently draw inspiration from it as they forge their own path. This approach worked wonders for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, so it looks like the good signs just keep on rolling in.

Gladiator II charges into theaters in the United States on November 22.