Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Gladiator II.
Gladiator II, the highly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator, has arrived in theaters. The director returns to continue the Rome-set saga years after Russell Crowe’s Maximus was killed in the Colosseum. It features a stellar star cast that includes Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, and more. The story begins after the events of the original film where Paul Mescal’s Lucius is destined to follow in the footsteps of his father Maximus. If you’ve seen the movie and want an overview of all the events, here’s what happened.
What happened in Gladiator II?
The film begins with Lucius fighting with soldiers from his African city of Numidia against Roman troops led by Pedro Pascal’s Marcus Acacius. During the battle, his wife dies and he is taken prisoner. But not before Lucius saw Acacius give the order to kill his wife. We learn that Acacius himself does not want to continue Roman expansion under the twin emperors, Quine’s Geta and Hechinger’s Caracalla. His views are shared by his wife, Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla who is the daughter of Marcus Aurelius and mother of Lucius. Of course, Lucius doesn’t know this and is hell-bent on taking Acacius down. Once in Rome, Lucius is chosen as a gladiator by Denzel Washington’s Macrinus, who has political plans of his own. A series of death matches begin in the Colosseum. These include fighting rhinos and taking on sharks swimming in the field. We are not kidding you!
While Lucius gains popularity among spectators and fellow gladiators alike at the Colosseum, Acacius and Lucilla are preparing a rebellion to defeat the twin emperors. At some point, Lucilla also sneaks in to meet Lucius and reveal her identity to him. However, he does not believe him. Acacius and Lucilla are soon caught planning a coup. As a result, Acacia is thrown into the Colosseum along with Lucius. It is here that he tells her about Maximus. Both of them threw down their weapons and refused to kill each other. Geta and Caracalla ordered Acacius to be shot. He was shot with arrows as an angry Lucius asked if this was how Rome treated its champions. This causes a riot as people start fighting with the Empire’s guards. Later, Caracalla, with the help of Macrinus, killed Geta and claimed his position as sole emperor. After this, Macrinus killed Caracalla before firing the arrow that killed Lucilla. It’s possible that he was actually trying to kill Lucius, who had gone to save his mother. It is important to note that Macrinus had a very good reason to hate Lucilla as she was a slave of his father, Marcus Aurelius. We wish that more of his backstory should have been revealed.
What happens at the end of Gladiator II?
In the final conflict, Lucius killed Macrinus as they were wading in the Tiber River and his body was swept away in the stream. Finally, Lucius, now wearing the armor of his father Maximus, reveals himself as the true heir to the throne and addresses the soldiers and people of Rome. He urges them to join and rebuild Rome according to the principles of their father and grandfather. The film ends with Lucius standing in an empty Colosseum and we get a flashback of his father as he thinks about his legacy.
The ending of Gladiator II opens up the possibility of another sequel as Lucius’ journey as a leader has just begun. He is on his way to becoming emperor and maintaining his family’s ideology. Although the makers have not announced the next installment yet, it will be interesting to see where the franchise goes next. Will there be gladiators in it? Your guess is as good as ours.
Gladiator II is currently in theaters.
