Spoiler Alert: Spoilers follow for the original GladiatorWe’re (hopefully) about to be entertained once again. Ridley Scott’s long-awaited Gladiator II finally hits theaters next weekend, and if early buzz is to be trusted, viewers should expect another hugely engaging round of brutal combat and immaculately constructed setpieces. For a long time, viewers had no idea how Scott could possibly continue the 2000 Best Picture winning original, given that it ends with the lead character’s death. But recent trailers have given us a better idea of Scott’s vision for a legacy sequel (even if it does admittedly raise questions about whether he’s retconning the first one).

With the new installment less than a week away, film junkies are understandably in a mad rush to rewatch the first Gladiator before seeing the sequel. But obviously, not everyone has the time to do so, plus there’s an entire generation of people who missed seeing the original in theaters. As such, today we’re recapping Gladiator and highlighting everything viewers need to remember before next weekend.

Release Date May 5, 2000 Cast Russell Crowe , Joaquin Phoenix , Connie Nielsen , Oliver Reed , Richard Harris , Derek Jacobi , Djimon Hounsou , David Schofield , John Shrapnel , Tomas Arana , Ralf Moeller , Spencer Treat Clark , David Hemmings , Tommy Flanagan , Sven-Ole Thorsen , Omid Djalili , Nicholas McGaughey , Chris Kell , Tony Curran , Mark Lewis , John Quinn , Alun Raglan , David Bailie , Chick Allan , David J. Nicholls , Al Hunter Ashton , Billy Dowd , Giannina Facio , Giorgio Cantarini Runtime 155 minutes Writers David Franzoni , John Logan , William Nicholson Expand

What Happened in the Original Gladiator?

Gladiator opens in 180 AD during maybe the height of the Roman Empire. Russell Crowe plays Maximus Decimus Meridius, a general to emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). Believing his own son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix, in one of his best performances), is ill-suited for the throne, Marcus plans to name Maximus his successor, having faith that he can restore Rome to the people.

However, an enraged Commodus murders his father and names himself emperor, and he kills Maximus’s family after he refuses to swear his loyalty to him. Having seemingly lost everything, Maximus is captured by slave traders, who sell him to a local gladiator trainer, Proximo (Oliver Reed). Quickly, Maximus proves adept in the arena, while learning that Proximo was once a gladiator who Marcus had freed. Simultaneously, Commodus organizes a gladiatorial tournament to commemorate Marcus and to boost his own popularity.

Early in the tournament, a masked Maximus wins favor from the crowd, but when Commodus comes to congratulate him on a victory, he realizes his true identity. In a now-iconic speech, Maximus states his intent to avenge his family, and at the crowd’s urging, a furious Commodus spares his rival. However, he almost immediately begins plotting ways to get Maximus killed in the ring while concealing his responsibility. To begin with, he secretly arranges for a duel between Maximus and Tigris of Gaul, an undefeated gladiator.

Against all odds, Maximus emerges victorious, but he refuses Commodus’s order to execute Tigris, and the crowd deems him “Maximus the Merciful.” Meanwhile, Commodus’s sister Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, who returns in the sequel), secretly meets with Maximus (her former lover), revealing that his generals remain loyal to him, and they formulate a plan to help him secretly escape Rome and regroup with his army. Afterward, they plan to launch an attack in order to forcibly remove Commodus from power and bring Roman power back to the Senate. An influential senator, Gracchus (Derek Jacobi), assists with the conspiracy, as does Maximus’s ex-orderly, Cicero.

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Gladiator Seemingly Left no Loose Ends

A suspicious Commodus realizes things are amiss, and upon interrogating Lucilla and his nephew Lucius (the protagonist of Gladiator II), he discovers the conspiracy. He immediately orders his Praetorian Guards to attack the gladiator barracks, during which Cicero is killed and Proximo sacrifices himself to help Maximus escape. However, Maximus is nonetheless taken captive again, and a vengeful Commodus, growing increasingly mad with power, decides to challenge his rival to a one-on-one duel in the arena, knowing any efforts to get him killed will turn him into a martyr.

Knowing that he’ll never best him in combat directly, before the match, Commodus stabs Maximus underneath his armor, in order to gain a fighting advantage. However, even a weakened Maximus still proves stronger than most other gladiators, and he successfully manages to disarm Commodus in the arena. With the crowd and even his own generals clearly on Maximus’s side, a crazed Commodus plays dirty and pulls out a concealed knife, making one final effort to stab his rival. Maximus instead overpowers him and drives the knife into his own throat, but he collapses almost immediately afterward as his own wounds take their toll.

Having visions of the afterlife, where his wife and son stand in a wheat field, Maximus uses his final moments to order his fellow gladiators to be freed, for the recently removed Gracchus to be reinstated, to honor Marcus’s request to restore Rome to the people. Maximus dies from his wounds (and he won’t return for the sequel even in flashback), and Gracchus and Lucilla honor him by carrying him out of the arena, followed by the rest of the crowd, while Commodus’s corpse is ignored and presumably left to rot. In the final scene, fellow gladiator Juba (Djimon Hounsou) visits the arena and thanks his friend for freeing him from captivity, whispering, “I will see you again. But not yet, not yet.”

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Gladiator II Has a Lot to Live Up To

By all accounts, seemingly all possible loose ends were tied up with this ending, and for years it seemed ridiculous to imagine how Ridley Scott could make a sequel, even as he consistently reiterated his plans to do so (the fact that Russell Crowe had no say in it didn’t help). However, we’ve gotten a clearer picture of his vision of the course of this year, and taking the approach of legacy-sequels like Creed and Top Gun Maverick seems inevitable in hindsight. Additionally, since two decades passed in between installments (and since almost anyone slightly aware of history knows the Roman Empire never restored its former glory), there’s more ground to cover in a sequel than we would’ve initially guessed.

That being said, Gladiator II has a lot to live up to. The original installment still holds up remarkably well as one of the best swords-and-sandals epics ever, delivering equally on the action and emotion, and that wasn’t an easy balance to hit. Nonetheless, after over 20 years, we’re starving for more gladiator action, and we can’t wait to see what Ridley Scott has cooked up this time around. Gladiator is streaming on Paramount+, while Gladiator II hits theaters on November 22.