by Actor Richard Madden of Eternals apparently received a negative response for the lead part in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2; the position has since been filled.
Gladiator, which won Russell Crowe the Best Actor Oscar and catapulted him to the top of every leading man search in Hollywood in 2000, had a profound effect on Crowe’s career. Crowe received praise for his personal performances, but the Ridley Scott film also won the Best Picture award for the year.
Scott is now laying the groundwork for his long-discussed and speculated Gladiator sequel, which has been in the works for more than two decades and years into the era of legacy sequels, particularly in the wake of the success of Top Gun: Maverick. According to recent sources, casting might begin as soon as this summer and the hunt for a lead is ongoing.
Following the passing of Crowe’s character in Gladiator, that leading guy has now been established to take Crowe’s position, and one MCU actor has regrettably lost out.
MCU Actor Loses Starring Role in Gladiator 2
According to a report by Deadline, Paul Mescal of Normal People is in negotiations to play the lead role in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2, the follow-up to his historical epic from 2000, which featured Russel Crowe as the Roman general-turned-Gladiator Maximus. After Crowe’s Maximus passes away, Mescal will take over the role of the adult Lucius Verus, whose thirteen-year-old equivalent was portrayed by Spencer Treat Clark.
Following the revelation, Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter named numerous more celebrities who were either vying for the job or who were vying for it in a process that involved meetings and auditions. Richard Madden, who portrayed Ikaris in Eternals, was among them, as were Miles Teller from Maverick, Austin Butler from Elvis, and Timothée Chalamet from Dune.
The final copy was provided by Scott in November, according to Deadline’s story, and meetings for the position began with Mescal before Scott could even finish. Despite the director meeting with several performers, ostensibly including Madden from Eternals, the star of Normal People remained the primary pick.
The author of the original Deadline article, Justin Kroll, replied to Borys Kit’s revealing of additional potential actors on Twitter. Since he had recently finished filming three movies, including Dune: Part Two, back-to-back, he remarked that Butler had not met with Scott.
Kroll continued, saying that Mescal, Teller, and Chalamet finally won out; he made no mention of Madden, implying that he didn’t get very far in the casting process. Scott was looking for an actor who hasn’t yet established himself as a great star, although the others obviously have, and Mescal ended up getting the part.
Gladiator 2 Works to Win Awards
The age, physical shape, and country of the actors identified as either seeking or being pursued for the role of adult Lucius in Gladiator 2 vary greatly, but each actor on the list has a wealth of ability and renown to their name. The youngest of the group is Paul Mescal, who is only 26 years old, while the oldest is Richard Madden, who is 36.
Gladiator, which won Best Picture and Best Actor Oscars in 2001, is still recognised as one of this generation’s best films. After executive producing Blade Runner 2099, Ridley Scott will be attempting his second foray into the legacy sequel trend in the hopes of repeating that success.
It will undoubtedly be difficult for Scott to duplicate the popularity of the 2000 hit as he attempts to bring the Roman world up to contemporary aesthetic standards. Beyond that, it won’t be simple for Mescal to live up to Russell Crowe’s award-winning performance, which is still spoken about today.
Nevertheless, the Irish actor has the skill to pull it off, as evidenced by the fact that he has won a BAFTA for his performance in Normal People as Best Leading Actor. Given how sought-after this job appears to have been, this would undoubtedly have resulted in huge disappointment for many stars in Hollywood.
After the production of his Russo Brothers-created series Citadel was completed in June 2022, Madden appears to be at a standstill at the time. There are a few ways he might yet return to the MCU even though he currently has no projects in the works and Ikaris was officially killed off in Eternals.
Although a main actor has yet to be hired, it is clear that production on Gladiator 2 is picking up steam. According to some earlier rumours, Scott may be planning to start filming in May, most likely for a 2024 or 2025 release.
