Ridley Scott is reviving his Gladiator series after 24 years with the upcoming Gladiator II, and it sounds like this isn’t the end of his epic story. Speaking to French Premiere magazine, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker confirmed that he is already working on the idea for a third Gladiator.

“I’m already toying with the idea of ​​Gladiator 3. No, seriously! I’ve lit the fuse,” Scott said. “The end of Gladiator II is reminiscent of ‘The Godfather,’ where Michael Corleone gets a job he doesn’t want and asks himself, ‘Well, father, what do I do?’ So the next (film) will be about a man who doesn’t want to be where he is.”

In Gladiator II, Paul Mescal plays the adult Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and nephew of Commodus, the antagonist of the original film, played by Joaquin Phoenix. The story begins years later, with Lucius now living in the North African region of Numidia, where he was sent by his mother as a child because the region was just outside the reach of the Roman Empire. Events lead Lucius back to Rome as a gladiator, where he makes new enemies and reunites with his mother. Denzel Washington plays Macrinus, a wealthy ruler in Rome who keeps a stable of gladiators for fun. The cast also includes Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn.

As with any Hollywood franchise, the existence of a third Gladiator film depends entirely on the success of Gladiator II. Scott himself has already praised the film highly, telling Empire magazine in August that the sequel was “the best thing I’ve ever done.” One of the best things. I’ve done some good ones.”

Scott also told Empire that Gladiator II opens with “probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done. Probably bigger than anything in ‘Napoleon.'” Although the filmmaker didn’t give too many details about Gladiator 2’s opening action sequence, he did hint at a moment where Lucius (Mescal) faces a rhinoceros in the Colosseum.

“Computerization and AI – you have to embrace that,” Scott said of building the computer-generated rhinoceros for the scene. “I can have a computer read every molecule and every fold of a rhinoceros and then cut it into a thick piece of plastic, just like the body of a rhinoceros, which is then cut into the shape of a skeleton.”

He added: “I have this thing that can go 40 miles an hour, spin on the spot, shake its head and growl. A two-ton rhino with a guy on its back! I mean, it’s really fun.”

“Gladiator 2” will be released in theaters on November 22nd by Paramount.