Barry Keoghan cast as main villain in ‘Gladiator’ sequel
After nabbing an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in The Banshees of Inisherin last year, Barry Keoghan is making the jump into leading roles. The current Joker in Robert Pattinson’s Batman series is taking on another villainous role in the upcoming sequel to 2000’s Gladiator.
According to sources at Giantfreakinrobot, Keoghan has been cast as a fictional version of the real-life Roman Emperor Geta, also known as Publius Septimius Geta, who ruled Rome from the years 209 to 211. Keoghan will step into the shoes of Joaquin Phoenix, who played the main villain Commodus in the original film.
The move comes as the Gladiator sequel continues to pull in newly-minted Academy Award nominees. Back in January, Deadline reported that another actor who received his first Oscar nomination this year, Paul Mescal, would be playing the sequel’s hero. Mescal was nominated for ‘Best Actor’ for his role in Aftersun.
Mescal will play an older version of Lucius, who was portrayed by actor Spencer Treat Clark in the first film. In the original Gladiator, Lucius was a young admirer of Russell Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius. With Maximus having died in the original film, it became necessary to follow a different character for a sequel. Instead of Crowe v. Phoenix, it looks as though we’re getting Mescal v. Keoghan.
Director Ridley Scott originally began pre-production on a Gladiator sequel just a few months after the film won Best Picture at the 73rd Academy Awards. In the two decades since, studio shakeups and other projects continued to stall progress on the film. Chris Hemsworth was even briefly entertaining the idea of co-producing the film with Crowe, but Scott confirmed in 2021 that Gladiator 2 would be his next project after he completed Napoleon.
As it stands rights now, Gladiator 2 is set for a November 2024 release. We shall see if that holds, but two of the most important aspects of the film – its hero and its villain – appear to be in place. Crowe claims not to be involved with the project, but it seems highly unlikely that a Gladiator sequel would happen without at least one flashback to Crowe’s Maximus at some point. There’s nothing to do now but wait and see.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.