Russell Crowe Says He’s “Slightly Uncomfortable” With ‘Gladiator’ Sequel: “A Couple Of Things I’ve Heard I’m Like – No, No, No”

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Russell Crowe is sharing his thoughts on the Gladiator sequel, which will drop in theaters later this year.

The actor starred in the 2000 Ridley Scott film but is not part of the sequel as his character, the Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, died. Crowe doesn’t seem particularly thrilled that the film is getting a sequel 24 years later.

“I’m slightly uncomfortable with the fact they’re making another one — because, of course, I’m dead and I have no say in what gets done,” Crowe said on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast. “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.”

He continued, “It does, in a funny way — I reflect back: the age I was when I made that film and all the things that came after it, the doors that particular movie opened for me. This is just me being purely honest: there’s definitely a tinge of melancholy, a tinge of jealousy.” He then quipped, “I remember when I had tendons.”

This is not the first time that Crowe weighs in on Gladiator 2. In an interview in 2023, he said he was “slightly jealous” he was not part of the sequel.

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“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,” he told Collider. “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.”

Crowe said the film “holds a special place in my heart” as it has had “longevity,” something that not every film has.

The Gladiator sequel is set years after the original film and has Mescal taking over the role of Lucius that Spencer Treat Clark portrayed in the 2000 movie. In the follow-up, Mescal plays the role of Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and the nephew of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).