Ridley Scott Describes His Original 'Gladiator 2' Opening Scene With Russell Crowe, And Now I Need To See This

Sir Ridley Scott has enjoyed a long and illustrious career, one that extends all the way back to "Alien" and "Blade Runner" (two of his absolute best) and continues to the historical epic "Napoleon," which is enjoying a theatrical run before making its way to AppleTV+ later on this year. The prolific director, who is staying busy well into his eighties, is moving right back to "Gladiator 2," which was delayed thanks to the SAG-AFTRA strike but is ready to resume production ahead of a planned 2024 release. The long-awaited sequel to Scott’s Oscar-winning "Gladiator" has gone through multiple iterations over the years, many of which we break down here, and during a recent conversation, the director gave more details to the opening scene he had crafted that would have used original "Gladiator" star, Russell Crowe.

Ridley Scott was a guest on CinemaBlend’s official podcast, ReelBlend, to talk all things "Napoleon." And towards the end of the conversation, we brought up "Gladiator 2," knowing that the director was in the middle of his shoot. We mentioned the fact that there have been numerous versions of "Gladiator 2" available for people, and brought up the ones that once included Russell Crowe. As you likely will recall, Crowe’s character Maximus dies in the arena, having faced down Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). But Scott figured out how to bring Crowe back, and once envisioned a "Gladiator 2" movie that opened differently.