Barry Keoghan to Co-Star with Fellow Oscar-Nominee Paul Mescal in 'Gladiator' Sequel

by Darian Scalamoni
    Two recent, fellow Oscar-nominees are teaming up as Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) will join Paul Mescal in the previously reported production that is gearing up for the Gladiator sequel from Ridley Scott.

    Scott is gearing up to direct the sequel to his historical epic drama Gladiator that previously won the Academy Award for Best Picture back in 2000. The first film featured Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix as Maximus and Commodus respectively but neither will return for the sequel as neither survived the first film. However, the sequel will star Aftersun actor Mescal, who will play Lucius, the son of Lucilla (played by Connie Nielsen in the original) and the nephew of Commodus. 

    If the deal gets made for Keoghan, he is expected to play a character named Emperor Geta. Scott will collaborate yet again with David Scarpa, who wrote the script for the controversial film, All the Money in the World and also recently penned Scott's Napoleon Bonaparte film for Apple that stars Joaquin Phoenix. Paramount is backing the project in a potential co-production with Universal, which produced the first Gladiator film, but they will make a determination on that once the film is officially set for production. The currently untitled sequel will hit theaters on November 22, 2024.

    Keoghan is coming off his first Academy Award nomination for the Irish period piece, The Banshees of Inisherin which was nominated for nine awards at the 95th ceremony last weekend. He's also appeared in Marvel's Eternals and is the frontrunner to play The Joker in Matt Reeves' BatVerse after a deleted scene had him slated to face off against Robert Pattinson while in a jail cell for The Batman. Keoghan will next star in Apple's Masters of the Air series before appearing in Emerald Fennell's follow-up to Promising Young Woman, titled Saltburn. He also recently signed on to Trey Edward Shults' next film which we previously reported on, where Keoghan will co-star with Jenna Ortega and The Weeknd.

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