First look images of Paul Mescal in Ridley Scott's Gladiator sequel have been released.

The Irish actor interprets Lucius, the son of Russel Crowe’s love interest in the original, Lucilla, played by Connie Nielsen, who will be reprising her role. The cast will also be joined by Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn.

Mescal said his nose came in handy for the role, telling Vanity Fair: “My nose just is kind of Roman. So it’s useful in this context.

The nose that I absolutely hated when I was in secondary school—and used to get ribbed for—became very, very useful when Ridley needed somebody to be in Gladiator II.”

The actor also spoke about meeting Ridley Scott on a Zoom call while he was performing A Streetcar Named Desire in London: “We spoke for about 20 to 30 minutes,” he said. “I wanted to get a flavour from him about what the story was going to be about, so we spent about 15 minutes talking about that, and then we spent another 10 minutes talking about the sport that I played growing up—Gaelic football.

“Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body. My memory of it is that probably two or three weeks later, the offer came in.”

When asked what Gladiator II is really about, Mescal said: “What human beings will do to survive, but also what human beings will do to win. We see that in the arena, but also in the political struggle that’s going on outside of my character’s storyline, where you see there’s other characters striving and pulling for power.”

Check out the first look images below:

First Look: Paul Mescal is Lucius in 'Gladiator II.'

See more images from Ridley Scott's upcoming film: https://t.co/WWYVKnybYX pic.twitter.com/Y1WFNN0rWJ

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) July 1, 2024

Gladiator II is heading to theatres on November 22.