Fans nearly had a sequel to 'Gladiator' after Russell Crowe approached Nick Cave

Virgin Radio

8 Jun 2022, 10:36

Russell Crowe's starring role in 'Gladiator' is still a standout performance.

The Ridley Scott's epic nearly had a follow-up after Crowe approached Nick Cave to work on a sequel.

It seems the follow up would have been controversial to say the least.

Spoilers ahead, but if you've seen the first 'Gladiator' you'll know Crowe's character meets an untimely end.

This would make it hard for his character to star in the sequel.

However, Nick Cave had other ideas.

The musician opened up about Crowe approaching him to work on the project.

He talked about the suggestion on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.

Cave questioned Crowe over what would happen because his character had died in the first film.

Cave said Crowe apparently responded: "Yeah, you sort that out.”

The famously ghoulish musician started work on a script, which featured Crowe's character Maximus as immortal.

Cave explained, Maximus 'goes down to purgatory and is sent down by the gods, who are dying in heaven because there’s this one god, there’s this Christ character, down on Earth who is gaining popularity'.

They end up sending Maximus back to Earth to "kill Christ and his followers".

That would upset a fair few people, to say the least.

He also revealed "that the main guy was his son so he has to kill his son and he was tricked by the gods".

"He becomes this eternal warrior and it ends with this 20 minute war scene which follows all the wars in history, right up to Vietnam and all that sort of stuff," he said.

It comes as no surprise that the idea wasn't a popular one so it ever received the go ahead.

Cave said Crowe's verdict was: "Don’t like it, mate,"

Ridley Scott says it was producers that squashed the project.

Now, a new script for 'Gladiator 2' has been completed.

It seems it will be a lot less controversial than Cave's idea.

It will focus on young ruler Lucius, who Maximus saved by killing Commodus.

There is no release date as yet.