Paul Mescal has confirmed he has finished filming the Gladiator sequel.
Director Ridley Scott announced he had written the sequel for his 2000 original film back in 2021; by January 2023, Mescal was in talks to star in the film. The cast is also set to feature Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington.
Appearing on The Graham Norton Show last night (January 19), Mescal told Norton he had finished filming the day before, joking: “I survived it”.
When Norton asked for a potential release date, Mescal first said: “Somebody’s going to assassinate me if I say anything further.”
But then the actor relented, saying audiences might be able to see Gladiator 2 in “Thanksgiving this year”.
Mescal also opened up about the casting process for the sequel, revealing he was performing A Streetcar Named Desire when he got the call.
“I was doing Streetcar Named Desire and that’s when Sir Ridley Scott called and said, ‘do you wanna do this?’,” he recalled.
“I was like, is the Pope Catholic? Yeah!”
Scott has previously explained his thoughts on casting Mescal as the leading role in his upcoming movie, saying he came across the Irish actor through Normal People: “It’s not my kind of show but I saw four episodes in a row – boom, boom, boom.”
“I was thinking, ‘Who the hell is this Paul Mescal?’,” he continued. “And then I watched the whole series. And then, suddenly, Gladiator 2 came up, because the script was working pretty well. And I kept thinking about Paul. And that was it.”
In other news, Mescal has confessed he would be “profoundly depressed” if Gladiator 2 made him any more famous.
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