Russell Crowe is "slightly uncomfortable" with Ridley Scott's upcoming movie Gladiator II

Actor Russell Crowe recently shared his thoughts on how he is "slightly uncomfortable" with the idea of director Ridley Scott making the new Gladiator II movie.

The 60-year-old played the lead role of the gladiator Maximus in the original 2000 movie. On June 10, 2024, Crowe appeared in a recent episode of the Kyle Meredith With… podcast and opened up about his character and how he would not feature in the upcoming project:

"I’m slightly uncomfortable with the fact they’re making another one — because, of course, [my character is] dead and I have no say in what gets done. But a couple of the things I’ve heard, I’m like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character.’ But I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six foot under. So we’ll see what that is like."

In the first movie, Crowe's character, the Roman general, gets killed by the evil emperor Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix.

---

Russell Crowe shares feeling a 'tinge of jealousy' about the new Gladiator II movie

Russell Crowe began his career by performing in musicals from 1986 to 1988. In 1990, he became a part of the acting industry by appearing in the war drama Prisoners of the Sun and The Crossing. 10 years later, he portrayed the role of Maximus in a period piece based on the Roman empire called Gladiator.

In the 2000 film, Maximus was the victim of a coup by the emperor Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus. Russell Crowe's character was forced into slavery and then fought his way up as a gladiator to get revenge upon Commodus, who killed his family. Maximus gets killed by Phoenix's character and does not make it to the end of the movie.

Paul Mescal will star as the lead in Gladiator II, playing the role of Lucius, the grandson of Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius, played by Richard Harris in the first film. He was also killed by Commodus, his son, and Lucius's uncle. The new movie will reportedly pay homage to the legacy of Russell Crowe's Maximus, as per Collider.

Russell Crowe admitted he does not have a say in the sequel as he would not feature in it but admitted to feeling a little jealous. He made an appearance in an episode of the Kyle Meredith With… podcast and said:

"I reflect back [on] the age I was when I made that film and all the things that came after it and the doors that that particular movie opened for me. So there’s definitely a tinge — and this is just being purely honest — a tinge of melancholy, tinge of jealousy. Because I remember when I had tendons."

Russell Crowe went on to star in several other successful projects, including A Beautiful Mind in 2001, 2010's Robin Hood, 2012's Les Misérables, and more. The podcast was not the first time the actor has spoken about being "jealous" of the new movie. In April 2023, he spoke to Collider in an interview and shared:

"Look, the only thing that I really feel about it is slightly jealous, you know? Because I was a much younger man, obviously, and it was a huge experience in my life. It's something that changed my life, really. It changed the way people regarded me and what I do for a living, and, you know, I've been very lucky to be involved in lots of big movies, but the legs on that film are incredible."

Gladiator II will be released in theaters on November 22, 2024.