Could Russell Crowe's Maximus Return from the Dead? 'Gladiator' Director Reveals 'I Know How to Bring Him Back'

It has been 17 years since arguably the last great swords and sandals film, 2000's #Gladiator. The #RidleyScott-directed flick earned multiple #AcademyAwards including Best Actor for #RussellCrowe and surprised many by beating out Steven Soderbergh's Traffic and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for the highest honor of the year, Best Picture. Gladiator earned over $455 million at the box office and cemented the phrase "Are You Not Entertained?!" in the hearts of many.

EW asked veteran director Scott about the long-rumored development of a potential follow-up to his 2000 smash hit while at the #SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. If the title didn't spoil you already, Crowe portrayed Maximus Decimus Meridius who succumbs to his brutal injuries in the Colosseum at the climax of the film. His dying wish asked for political reform and for his Gladiator allies to be freed, a request granted for the honorable "soldier of Rome."

Despite this key occurrence, Scott suggested that not only is he up for another movie, he also has come up with a way of doing it with Crowe should the actor want to sign on for a sequel:

“I know how to bring him back... I was having this talk with the studio — ‘but he’s dead.’ But there is a way of bringing him back. Whether it will happen I don’t know. Gladiator was 2000, so Russell’s changed a little bit. He’s doing something right now but I’m trying to get him back down here.”

Scott was at the famed festival promoting the upcoming #AlienCovenant, the sequel to 2012's Prometheus and sixth overall film in the #Alien franchise. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup and Danny McBride and is set to hit theaters on May 19th, 2017.

Not The First Time An Idea For A Gladiator Sequel Has Floated Around

A mere obstacle like the death of a character cannot stop the idea train! In 2009, Crowe reportedly commissioned rocker Nick Cave - of famed rock group, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - to write a Gladiator sequel script. Crowe's idea had Maximus traversing through the afterlife, but it’s unclear if Scott’s idea has any connection to this.

Cave discussed the potential sequel on the WTF Podcast with Marc Maron and revealed the basic idea of how it would be executed:

"So, he goes down to purgatory and is sent down by the gods, who are dying in heaven because there’s this one god, there’s this Christ character, down on Earth who is gaining popularity and so the many gods are dying so they send Gladiator back to kill Christ and his followers."

He continued that he wanted to call it 'Christ Killer' and "in the end you find out that the main guy was his son so he has to kill his son and he was tricked by the gods." Cave revealed that he "enjoyed writing it very much" because he "knew on every level that it was never going to get made."

If you're interested in reading parts of the masterful script, click here for the pdf.

(Source: EW)

Would you want to see a sequel to Gladiator?