Gladiator II arrived in cinemas overseas this past weekend and will storm its way into U.S. theaters later this week. While we're not getting into spoilers yet, we're sure many of you are eager to learn whether there's anything worth waiting for when the credits roll.
Post-credits scenes have become the norm for franchises beyond just the MCU and filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott has already confirmed he's working on a third instalment. With that in mind, a tease of some sort would make sense.
Should you stick around when the movie ends? No, because Gladiator 2 doesn't have a post-credits scene. When the credits roll, that's it, though you can always sit back and enjoy Harry Gregson-Williams' incredible score while reading the names of everyone who worked hard to make this movie a reality.
"I’ve already got eight pages. I’ve got the beginning of a very good footprint," Scott previously said of his potential threequel plans. "If there’s a Gladiator 3, I don’t think you’d ever go back into the arena. But I had to go back into the arena..."
The filmmaker also recently revealed the version of Gladiator II which didn't happen. "There was even a sequel idea that the musician Nick Cave wrote, where Maximus is resurrected as an instrument of the Roman gods dispatched against Jesus Christ," Scott explained. "That obviously didn’t happen. It got too grand."
"Nick is very high theater, and Steven Spielberg [who was consulted on the original film] said, 'Nah.' I wasn’t confident about what we had actually put together, so I just let it go," he concluded.
With this movie earning a respectable 75% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a career-best international opening for Scott with $87 million, we'd say a third movie is likely. Plus, the door is definitely left open for the story to continue after Gladiator II...
From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.
Based on characters by David Franzoni and a story by Peter Craig and David Scarpa, Ridley Scott directs Gladiator II from a script by Scarpa. The cast includes Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, with Connie Nielsen and Denzel Washington.
Gladiator II arrives in theaters on November 22.