With Gladiator II, director Ridley Scott returns to Ancient Rome 24 years after his Oscar success. This time, 200 years after Christ, he tells the story of the now adult Lucius (Paul Mescal), who begins his own gladiator journey to the Colosseum. Spencer Treat Clarkwho played Lucilla’s son in Part 1, was never considered by the filmmaker for the sequel.
Why Gladiator star Spencer Treat Clark wasn’t allowed to return as Lucius in Part 2
The reasons why Russell Crowe didn’t return may be obvious, as his Maximus died at the end of Gladiator. But why wasn’t there a reunion with Spencer Treat Clark, while stars like Connie Nielsen (Lucilla) and Derek Jacobi (Gracchus) were allowed to slip into their old roles again in Gladiator 2? Ridley Scott’s answer to Deadline for the choice of Paul Mescal (and thus also for the Lucius reshuffle) was as candid as usual a year ago:
I’m always looking for something and someone new and fresh. Being current is terribly important. So that they don’t bring any baggage with them. That’s a terrible word for her previous career, […] but you would remember if he had played this type of character before.
The choice of the main actor depended on the fact that Gladiator 2 had one occupy rising star wanted. Probably also because it was easier to market. The Irishman Paul Mescal, whom Ridley Scott discovered for himself in the series Normal People, corresponded perfectly to this image before the actor achieved further fame with indie film hits such as Aftersun and All of Us Strangers. Scott told Total Film that he believes Mescal “as tall as Russell Crowe” could become.
In addition, the Lucius recast in Gladiator 2 should Age played a role have: Paul Mescal is 28 years old, Spencer Treat Clark is now 37. Scott wanted an actor in his mid-20s for Lucius. Everyone can now find out how good the sequel Gladiator 2 with Paul Mescal turned out in the cinema. In fact, Clark became one in Gladiator 2 reassigned twice. Because for flashbacks to the young Lucius, Ridley Scott also needed a new child actor in his sequel: Alfie Tempest (Masters of the Air).
Fans on Reddit, among others, are also discussing that Spencer Treat Clark might not be enough as an adult acting talent possessed that demanded such a leading role. To decide that, everyone has to form their own opinion of Clark’s film work over the last 24 years.
What else did Spencer Treat Clark film after Gladiator?
Born in 1987, Spencer Treat Clark was 12 years old when he filmed Gladiator in 1999. The American actor then appeared as a child actor in the early 2000s well-known films like M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable or Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River. After that, however, he increasingly appeared in smaller works, some of which were no longer published in this country.
As Werner von Strucker, Clark had a recurring role in the mid-2010s Series role in 8 episodes of the Marvel series Agents of SHIELD, before joining the cast of the Animal Kingdom series as Adrian Dolan in 27 episodes from 2016.
This year, 2024, you could already experience Spencer Treat Clark in the Apple series After the Assassination. And even if he’s not currently in Gladiator 2, you just have to change the cinema to see him in a new supporting role: in the Stephen King adaptation Salem’s Lot.
This is what the old Lucius star says about his recast in Gladiator 2
Of course, Spencer Treat Clark was also asked about Gladiator 2 in advance. He explained to People after the first trailer was released:
The film looks so good and Paul [Mescal] does a great job. I’ve heard great things about it. […] For me, Gladiator was 25 years ago and feels like it, but some people still see me as an adult and say, ‘Oh my God, you’re right. You were Lucius in Gladiator!’ That’s pretty wild.
Just in time for the launch of Gladiator 2, Part 1 has arrived on several streaming services. So if you want to see Spencer Treat Clark as Lucius again, it’s not difficult.
Gladiator II Podcast: The Same Movie Again?
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24 years after Gladiator, director Ridley Scott delivers the highly anticipated sequel. To do this, he put a budget of between $250 and $310 million on the table and brought stars like Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal on board. Filmstart colleagues Pascal, Annemarie and Christoph will tell you in the podcast whether Gladiator II is a successful sequel or just copies the first part in a rather tired way.