Ridley Scott wants to revive Russell Crowe in his role as Maximus Decimus Meridius for a Gladiator sequel. Speaking at a screening during South by Southwest, Scott was asked about a rumored sequel for Gladiator. He responded:

“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.”

It has been almost 17 years since Maximus entertained the Colosseum and movie audiences. The film won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and earned Crowe a Best Actor statue. The follow up has rumored for many years and back in 2009, Crowe had a script penned by Nick Cave (Lawless). It featured quite a crazy story, you can read the script yourself on Slashfilm. Of course Maximus died at the end of Gladiator, so the sequel has the challenge of resurrecting him in a not completely ridiculous way. Lucky for us, it sounds like Scott has a plan in place. Scott appears to be busy for the foreseeable future, as he already has plans for a quick follow-up to Alien: Covenant if it’s well received and has stated he could do six more Alien films.

As far as is publicly known, Crowe has no films on the horizon. The only statement to the contrary is Scott’s above statements that Crowe is “doing something right now.” Whether that means he has projects in the works or is simply busy promoting The Mummy is unclear. Gladiator is not a film I ever thought needed a sequel nor expected one for, but it would be great to see Crowe and Scott reunite for another swords and sandals epic.