Watch: Paul Mescal at the premiere of Gladiator II
Irish actor Paul Mescal follows in Oscar winner Russell Crowe's sandals to fight in the Colosseum in Gladiator II, the highly anticipated sequel to filmmaker Ridley Scott's Ancient Rome power saga.
Set 16 years after Crowe's hero Maximus died in the original 2000 Gladiator film, the sequel follows Mescal's character Lucius, a prisoner taken to Rome after his homeland is conquered by a fleet of Roman warships led by General Acacius, played by Pedro Pascal.
Lucius' fierce fighting impresses Denzel Washington's conniving Macrinus, who forces the prisoner into the Colosseum to fight as a gladiator.