Denzel Washington is playing a morally gray man in ‘Gladiator 2’

Between Ridley Scott announcing it as his best film ever and Denzel Washington hinting towards retirement after its release, Gladiator 2 has established itself as the most hyped big studio film of the year.

Set for a November 22 theatrical release in the United States and Canada, the movie stars Washington, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, and Joseph Quinn in leading roles. While Nielsen returns to reprise her role from the first film, there is a general sense of curiosity among fans about other characters, who will be making their first appearances in the universe.

The Gladiator sequel marks Washington’s first release since 2023’s The Equalizer 3, whose flavor and genre are quite different from Scott’s upcoming historical epic. Washington plays the role of Macrinus, a popular arms dealer and businessman in the Roman Empire. His primary business is supplying weapons and refreshments to armies, but he also keeps an array of gladiators with him.

From the trailers, it can be gathered that Macrinus certainly has shades of villainy, hinted by both the nature of his work and his shrewd demeanor. He is also described as being extremely intelligent and ambitious, which falls in line with the story of his rise in Rome. Scott opened up on Washington’s character in a Vanity Fair first-look interview:

Denzel is an arms dealer who supplies food for the armies in Europe, supplies wine and oil, makes steel, makes spears, weapons, cannons, and catapults. So he is a very wealthy man. Instead of having a stable of racehorses, he has a stable of gladiators. He’s beautiful. He drives a golden Ferrari. I got him a gold-plated chariot.”

Ridley Scott/Vanity Fair

The trailer also suggested that Washington’s character will work closely with Paul Mescal’s character Lucius, helping him to achieve his objectives while also ensuring he gets what he wants from the gladiator. For context, Lucius is the former heir to the empire, who is taken prisoner by the Roman army and later forced to fight as a combatant in the pits.

While Macrinus is likely to be one of the many morally gray characters in Gladiator 2, the primary antagonists are being played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, who will portray Emperor Geta and Emperor Caracalla, respectively, the co-rulers of Rome. Pedro Pascal’s Marcus Acacius is another character that will be squaring up against Lucius, making him a villain.

Macrinus’ character wasn’t present in the first film and will be introduced in the Gladiator series for the first time in the sequel. From a historical POV, he was a real person who existed during the rule of Caracalla, serving as a Praetorian Prefect under him. He later becomes responsible for the Emperor’s assassination, and it remains to be seen how effectively Scott will be able to tie up these historical points in the flick.