Ridley Scott had the perfect no-nonsense advice for Paul Mescal on the set of Gladiator 2

Paul Mescal as Lucius in Gladiator 2 (2024) — (Image credit: Paramount)

After the huge success of Gladiator, returning for the long-awaited sequel was always going to feature a hefty amount of pressure, especially for newcomer Paul Mescal. In the upcoming movie, he plays Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe's Maximus – and as such steps into some pretty huge shoes.

However, as Mescal tells Total Film in our final issue out on Thursday, October 10, which features Gladiator 2 on the cover, there was no room for nerves on a Ridley Scott set.

"I think the very first day, and just coming out and there being a couple of hundred to a thousand SAs [supporting artists/extras], with fires burning, and the walls of Morocco, I was like, 'Ooh – this is fucking big,'" remembers Mescal. "But… the first thing [Ridley] said before filming was, 'Your nerves are no fucking good to me.' Which is Ridley in a nutshell, but it’s the perfect thing to say, because it’s so liberating. He’s totally right."

Gladiator 2 takes place over two decades after the events of the first film, with Lucius living estranged from his family in Numidia. When Roman soldiers led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) invade, his wife is killed and he's forced into slavery. Taken to Rome, he trains to become a gladiator, inspired by the legend of Maximus.

However, despite the inspiration, Mescal says of Crowe: "I think the legacy he’s left with that first film is extraordinary. I think I was consciously trying to get out of my head, like, the projections that people might have of what this film means. I didn’t watch it after I was cast, and then watched it on New Year’s Day with my friends, which was amazing… And there’s nothing really to be gained [by studying it in preparation] as it’s a different character."

Gladiator 2 is released on November 15. And you can read more about it and a whole lot else besides in the final issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, October 10.

Check out the covers below:

Subscribers have the exclusive text-free cover on the way to them right now, with the issue then hitting shops and digital newsstands on Thursday October 10.

Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.