24 years after Ridley Scott delivered the Best Picture winner Gladiator, Gladiator II has become the holiday event film alongside Wicked. Despite Russell Crowe’s glaring absence, the film stars Paul Mescal as Lucius Verus, the grandson of Rome’s famed leader, Marcus Aurelius. Set nearly two decades after Aurelius’ death, Lucius becomes enslaved and taken from his native land to become a gladiator, where he fights to the death in spectacular Roman Colosseum battles.