THE OFFICIAL TRAILER of the new Gladiator film starring Paul Mescal has been released. 

Gladiator II, also starring Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington, is a sequel to the 2000 hit Gladiator which featured Russell Crowe as its leading man. 

In the trailer, Mescal is shown in bloody battle with Pascal in the Colosseum, and also appears to be taken under the wing of Washington’s character. 

Mescal also takes on a rhino, whose horn is covered with the blood of previous victims. 

Gladiator II will be released in Irish cinemas on 15 November. 

A sequel to the original blockbuster was discussed as far back as 2001, and the film was finally announced in 2018, with Mescal being hired in the lead role last year. 

The film is set over two decades after the events of the original Gladiator film. 

And while director Ridley Scott previously hinted that there would be a role for Russell Crowe in a Gladiator sequel, that has not turned out to be the case.

Last month, Crowe said he was “slightly uncomfortable” with the idea of a Gladiator sequel that didn’t involve him. 

“I’m slightly uncomfortable, the fact that they’re making another one, you know?,” Crowe told the podcast ‘Kyle Meredith With…’.

***Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn’t seen the 2000 Gladiator film***

Crowe added: “Because of course, I’m dead, and I have no say in what gets done.

“A couple of things that I’ve heard, I’m like, ‘No, no, no. That’s not in the moral journey of that particular character.’

“But you know, I can’t say anything. That’s not my place. I’m six feet under. So we’ll see what that is like.”

Gladiator II was largely film in Malta last year, with some reshoots in Sussex.

Mescal will play the role of Lucius Verus, the former heir to the Roman Empire who has been “in the wilderness” for the past 15 years in the film’s universe, according to director Ridley Scott. 

Speaking to Dave Moore on Today FM yesterday, Mescal said the film “picks the world of the first Gladiator up and plants it 20 years into the future”.

He said it has the “same energy and spirit of the first one” but that his character’s journey through Ancient Rome “couldn’t be more different” to that of Crowe’s character.

“It balances an honouring of the first film but is very much its own beast,” said Mescal. 

Mescal once starred in an advert for Denny’s sausages and told Today FM that “going from sausage ads to this wasn’t in the bingo card for me”.

“We’re kind of as a country punching far above our weight in terms of the output and long may it continue,” said Mescal, who added that he is overwhelmed by the support he receives from Irish people.

Mescal, who was a minor and under-21 Gaelic footballer for Kildare, also remarked that his GAA days helped in preparing for the Colosseum. 

“I’m well used to throwing myself around on a pitch and that was useful in the Colosseum of Ancient Rome for sure.”