Warning: This article contains spoilers for Gladiator 2.

The final scene of Gladiator 2 leaves the door open for Gladiator 3, and Ridley Scott has already discussed some of his tantalizing ideas for the potential threequel. The original Gladiator was a perfectly told standalone story that could’ve stood on its own merits without a sequel. The only reason to make a sequel was that the first film thematically explores the concept of legacy and the implications of today’s actions on tomorrow (“What we do in this life echoes in eternity”). Gladiator 2 is only tangentially connected to the original, retroactively revealing that Lucius Verus was fathered by Maximus.

But the ending of Gladiator 2 sets up a more direct sequel to follow in Gladiator 3. It leaves Scott’s Roman saga unfinished, with one more story left to tell. In Gladiator 2, Lucius lived up to Maximus’ legacy and liberated Rome from its evil overlords, but there’s still a long way to go to restore the broken dream. Based on the setup at the end of Gladiator 2 and Scott’s idea for Gladiator 3, a possible third movie will bring the story full circle and make the trilogy a complete saga.

Gladiator 2 Sets Up Lucius Ruling Rome In Gladiator 3

Lucius Is The New Emperor By The End Of Gladiator 2

In its first half, Gladiator 2 is a more or less straightforward rehash of the original movie. Lucius is captured, sold into slavery, and forced to fight as a gladiator. Just like Maximus before him, he rises through the ranks, becomes a champion who inspires the people of Rome, and all the while quietly plots to exact revenge for the loved ones he’s lost. But in its second half, when Denzel Washington’s Macrinus reveals his true plan to usurp the emperors, Gladiator 2 becomes its own thing. Macrinus seizes power and intends to rule Rome as a dictator.

Gladiator 2
has a 75% “
fresh
” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.

As the direct heir of Marcus Aurelius, it’s Lucius’ birthright to take the throne. In the climactic showdown of Gladiator 2, Lucius brutally kills Macrinus and takes back the throne that’s rightfully his. This concludes the story at hand in Gladiator 2, but it sets up a new story. Getting Lucius to his rightful place on the throne is a good start, but Rome is still far away from the utopia that his grandfather envisioned. Now, Lucius will have to overcome impostor syndrome, fix Rome’s institutional problems, and fend off his own usurpers.

Gladiator 3 Would Be A Very Different Kind Of Story

Gladiator 3 Wouldn’t Be A Revenge Story

If Scott does make Gladiator 3, it’ll be a very different kind of story. Both the first and second Gladiator movies were revenge stories. In the first one, Maximus pursues vengeance against Commodus for the deaths of his family, and in the second one, Lucius pursues vengeance against Acacius for the death of his wife. But Gladiator 3, following on from Lucius becoming the new emperor, presumably wouldn’t be a revenge tale. Instead, it could focus on Lucius actually realizing the dream of Rome after it’s been crushed for two movies. There’s plenty of history it could pull from, too.

It could focus on Lucius actually realizing the dream of Rome after it’s been crushed for two movies.

It could still potentially be a revenge story, but it would flip the usual dynamic. In the first two films, the audience follows the protagonist on their quest for revenge. Lucius killed a lot of people in Gladiator 2, and he’ll surely have to make some tough decisions as the new emperor. There will undoubtedly be someone out there who wants to kill Lucius, so Gladiator 3 could be a revenge story from the revengee’s perspective. Realizing the dream of Rome might be harder than it seems, and there might be some Romans who disagree, so there’s plenty of conflict.

What Ridley Scott Has Said About Gladiator 3

Scott Has Already Started Writing Gladiator 3

In the months leading up to Gladiator 2’s release, Scott revealed that he’s already working on a script for Gladiator 3. He said he already has eight pages of a threequel written, and that this opening is “the beginning of a very good footprint.” Scott added that if there’s a Gladiator 3, it likely wouldn’t “go back into the arena,” suggesting it would move away from gladiators altogether.

A sequel to
Gladiator
has been in development since as early as June 2001.

Scott ended up unwittingly spoiling Gladiator 2 when he teased the threequel’s story on the sequel’s press tour. He compared Gladiator 2 to The Godfather, with Lucius ending up with “a job he didn’t want,” and suggested that Gladiator 3 would follow in the footsteps of The Godfather Part II, as that job becomes his moral downfall. Scott is already working on a new Alien sequel, a Bee Gees biopic, and a bunch of other projects, so it could be a while before Gladiator 3 gets off the ground (if it ever does).