Since 2018, reports have been circulating that Ridley Scott is attempting to move forward with a sequel to 2000’s Gladiator, however, it has been some time since we have had any news on the production schedule for the project.
Now, in a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Doug Wick, the producer of the original Gladiator, has offered an update on the sequel revealing that creative challenges and director Ridley Scott’s schedule have brought the project to a halt.
“Ridley would love to do it. It’s really all about getting something on paper,” Wick confirmed to ComicBook.com. “Everyone [involved with the original] loves the movie too much to ever consider cheaply exploiting it and making something that’s a shadow of it. It’s just really a clear creative problem, working on a script, and if we can ever get it to a place … Ridley’s working on it, it’s really just a question of whether we can get it to a place where it feels worthy to make it. It’s a real challenge.”
He added, “But it’s also a real writing problem, too. Like any good movie, Gladiator works by the skin of its teeth, where this fight movie ends up adding up that way, and so, again, to take the best of what the audience is attached to, but make it fresh in some new incarnation, it’s really challenging. And, of course, the leading man is dead. If you do Godfather, you say, ‘Okay, the audience loves these stars in this wardrobe,’ and you bring back the old team.”
Producer Walter F. Parkes confirmed last year that the film will be set 25-30 years after the original but that’s all we know regarding the sequel so far. However, as Wick mentioned, they are being careful with the sequel as they don’t want it to be considered as a cheap exploit.
SEE ALSO: Gladiator star Connie Nielsen provides an update on the sequel
Are you interested in seeing a follow-up to 2000’s Gladiator? Do you think it will ever happen? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @flickeringmyth…
