Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us) is in final negotiations to join the cast of a sequel to the Oscar-winning 2000 film Gladiator. Ridley Scott, who directed the original film, is returning to helm the new project.
Although Pascal’s role is not yet known, he will be jumping into an already impressive roster, including Oscar nominees Paul Mescal (Aftersun) and Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin), Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Training Day), Connie Nielsen (Gladiator), and Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things).
Gladiator hit theaters in May 2000 and went on to earn more than $460 million at the box office worldwide and was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Actor (Russell Crowe), Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound.
The untitled Gladiator sequel will be the first time a sequel has been produced for a film that has won the Best Picture Oscar since the 1991 masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs, which followed a decade later with Hannibal.
News of Pascal’s possible participation in a Gladiator sequel had the internet spinning on Monday (May 1). Some were already writing specific scenarios in their heads for the upcoming movie.
Others weren’t too sure what to do with themselves when they heard the news, but seemed excited nonetheless.
Some even joked that the casting of Pascal cured all their ailments.
Let’s just hope Pascal doesn’t end up meeting the same fate in the Gladiator sequel as he did the last time he starred in a medieval project (Game of Thrones).
Pedro Pascal can currently be seen in the debut season of The Last of Us and in the third season of The Mandalorian. His next completed project is the short film Strange Way of Life co-starring Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke (Boyhood) and directed by Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Her).