Russell Crowe wanted to ‘come back from the dead’ in ‘Gladiator II’, reveals director Ridley Scott

Russell Crowe played the role of Maximus in the 2000 film.gladiator‘. Not only did he win hearts with his performance in this movie, he also won the Oscar for Best Actor.

‘Gladiator IIThe film starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington was released earlier this month. Russell did not appear in the film as he died in the first part. However, Crowe wanted to reinvent the character Maximus in the sequel. Yes, you read that correctly.

In a recent interview with People magazine, director Ridley Scott revealed that Crowe was approached with the idea because he wanted to appear in Gladiator II. “Russell and I tried this out about 18 years ago. Nick Cave wrote the script and I kept saying to Russell, ‘But you’re dead.’ And he said, “I know I’m dead, and I want to come back from death.”

Previously, a BBC article revealed that Crowe had asked Nick Cave to write the sequel and undo the character’s death in the new film. The potential movie’s plot revolved around Maximum waking up in some sort of purgatory filled with Roman gods. However, this idea did not sit well with Crow.

At the time, Ridley was thinking of a way to get Qrow back.Gladiator II‘. The filmmakers planned to install a portal to wake Maximus from death. “The only way to do that was to go to another battle and through the dying warrior he goes back into the warrior spirit. So that’s his portal,” Scott said. But Crow didn’t like that idea.

in ‘gladiatorCrowe plays Maximus, a former Roman general and slave forced to fight for his life in the Colosseum. in ‘Gladiator IIPaul Mescal plays the son of Maximus who fights against the Roman Empire.