Why I’m jealous of Paul Mescal’s ‘Gladiator’ sequel

Are you not entertained, Russell?

Russell Crowe has revealed why he’s “jealous” that he won’t be stepping back into the arena for Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” sequel.

The 59-year-old actor — who shot to global fame playing Maximus Decimus Meridius in the original film — made the revelation while promoting his upcoming horror movie “The Pope’s Exorcist” on Friday.

“The only thing that I really feel about it is slightly jealous, you know,” Crowe told Collider of “Gladiator 2,” which will star Paul Mescal and is set for release late next year.

“I was a much younger man, obviously, and it was a huge experience in my life,” he further explained. “It’s something that changed my life, really. It changed the way people regarded me and what I do for a living.”

Crowe won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in 2000’s “Gladiator,” which made an astronomical $503 million at the box office.

“I’ve been very lucky to be involved in lots of big movies,” Crowe continued. “But the legs on that film are incredible. Here it is, it’s 2023, and we made that film in 1999. I guarantee you, somewhere around the world tonight, ‘Gladiator’ is going to be showing on primetime TV.

“You don’t always get that kind of longevity with every film you do, so, it obviously holds a special place in my heart,” he added.

According to Crowe, Scott has not informed him of any plot details regarding the upcoming sequel. Crowe’s character died at the end of the original action epic, so the fact he wasn’t asked to return for the second film can’t be seen as a snub.

“I don’t really know where they’re going to go with it,” Crowe said of the sequel. “I’m sure that [there have] been things on [Ridley Scott’s] mind for the last 24 years that he thinks he can probably do better, or something.

“I think that’s one of the positives about it, for sure, that it is Ridley because he’s going to want to go back into that world and create something [on] the same level of spectacle as the first one,” the actor continued.

“Gladiator” also starred Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus, the psychopathic son of emperor Marcus Aurelius.

While plot details for Scott’s sequel have been kept under wraps, it is known that Mescal will play Lucius, the nephew of Phoenix’s Commodus. Denzel Washington is reportedly also in talks for a role.

“Gladiator 2” is scheduled to be released in theaters Nov. 22, 2024.