The arena for the upcoming Gladiator sequel is getting crowded.
Today, Deadline broke the news that Connie Nielsen (pictured above in the first film) will officially be reprising her role as Lucilla, the sister to Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) who, quite frankly, would have made a heck of a better leader than her brother.
Lucilla is an integral part of the sequel, as the movie is reported to center around her son, Lucius (Paul Mescal) and, according to Deadline, their mother-son relationship is a major arc of the story. Nielsen is the only actor to date that will appear in both the first film and this upcoming sequel, and in addition to Mescal, she joins Denzel Washington and Barry Keoghan on the call sheet.
Deadline is also reporting that another actor will be joining the Gladiator 2 ranks. Joseph Quinn, who played the ill-fated Eddie Munson in the latest season of Stranger Things, is also in final talks to join the production as Emperor Caracalla. This is the second emperor in the film, as Keoghan is reportedly playing Emperor Geta.
Will these two emperors get along? Probably not! It’s gratifying to see that Nielsen’s Lucilla will be a big part of the sequel, though we’ll have to wait a while to see how her role in the larger story plays out.
Gladiator 2, which also sees Ridley Scott returning as director, premieres in theaters on November 22, 2024.
