My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. Winner of  5 Academy Awards.  And I will have my sequel, in this life or the next.

According to Deadline, Ridley Scott is dusting off the chariot wheels and heading back to ancient Rome for a sequel to the Academy Award winning movie Gladiator.  With the help of Peter Craig, Ridley is writing the sequel to the 18 year old movie and plans to direct it himself.

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When Can We Expect It?

How fast this project gets off the ground remains to be seen.  Ridley has a lot on his plate, but the main project he is attached to is the Disney project referred to as the Merlin Saga, a saga that will follow Merlin from his youth to his Arthur days.  Ridley Scott is know as someone who flows from one project to another with speed, but if Merlin takes three movies we could still be looking at 7-9 years unless he can sneak it in between movies.

Peter Craig, known largely for Mockingjay 1 & 2 also has a lot of projects in the works.  He is currently working on Top Gun: Maverick due out in 2020.  He is also working on a future film starring Hugh Jackman called The Odyssey.

Originally Ridley planned a sequel where Maximus was raised form the dead to fight a grown Lucius who was murdering Christians.  While reports are suggesting that will no longer the case, reports are saying the sequel will still focus on Lucius but not much else is known right now.

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Can It Match the Original?

Ridley is coming off some questionable films lately.  The Martian was very well received, but Exodus was an absolute bomb with Robin Hood not doing much better.  Then you have the deeply divided opinions on the two latest Alien films.  Some really liked the latest two installments while many reviews were extremely harsh.

Gladiator has always been one of my favorite films.  If they are going to attempt a sequel i hope it can live up to its predecessor.  This is an extremely tall order on every front.  It not only has to match story, acting and action of the first, but even the score by Hans Zimmer is going to be very hard to match, unless they can get Zimmer back.