2-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington already has his sights set on his next role after playing the cunning merchant Macrinus inGladiator II. Following the highly anticipated release ofGladiator IIon June 23, 2025, theepic blockbuster sequel has received mostly positive reviewsand a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 72%. Paul Mescal leads thecast ofGladiator IIalongside Washington, Pedro Pascal, andConnie Nielsen, who reprises her role as Lucilla, the mother of Mescal’s Lucius.Gladiator II’sbox officeearned an impressive $55 million in its opening weekend and aims to hit $400 million worldwide in December.
Washington plays Macrinus, a brand-new character in the world of Ridley Scott’sGladiatorfranchise who is a high-ranking and wealthy gladiator trader. Macrinus “supplies food for the armies in Europe, supplies wine and oil, makes steel, makes spears, weapons, cannons, and catapults. Instead of having a stable of racehorses, he has a stable of gladiators,“Scott toldVanity Fair. Washington’s performance as Macrinus has received high praise from critics and is already the heavy favorite for Best Supporting Actor at the 2025 Oscars.Washington, who also recently produced the Oscar contenderThe Piano Lesson, has shown no signs of slowing down.
Denzel Washington’s Upcoming Hannibal Movie Could Be His Gladiator 2 Replacement
Gladiator is set to star in a new historical action epic
Washington is teaming up withTraining DayandEqualizerdirector Antoine Fuqua once again for the upcomingfilm about the ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal. According toVariety, the currently untitled Netflix feature “will be written by John Logan, the three-time Academy Award winner who scribed Martin Scorsese’sThe Aviatorand Ridley Scott’sGladiator.” The film’s official logline reads, “based on real-life warrior Hannibal, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in history. The film covers the pivotal battles he led against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War.”
Based on similar themes and time periods, it sounds like Washington already has his perfectGladiator IIfollow-up ready to go. According toBritannica, Hannibal was “a Carthaginian general, one of the great military leaders of antiquity, who commanded the Carthaginian forces against Rome in the Second Punic War (218–201 bce) and who continued to oppose Rome and its satellites until his death.” This wouldplace Washington back in the star role of a historical epic blockbuster after his memorable supporting role inGladiator II, which only required him for a few combat scenes.
Denzel Washington’s Performance As Macrinus Makes The Hannibal Movie So Much More Exciting
Macrinus is outstanding in Gladiator II but is limited to a supporting role
Macrinus is undeniably one of the greatest characters inGladiator IIand one of the best roles of Washington’s illustrious career. Washington unsurprisingly stole just about every scene he was a part of inGladiator II, bringing a larger-than-life protagonist feel in a supporting role that could earn him his third acting Oscar.Washington’s command is one of his greatest gifts as an actorand is felt throughout every frame he’s a part of inGladiator II. Even among a strong ensemble, Washington delivers the greatest overall performance inGladiator II, which makes his upcoming Hannibal film all the more exciting.
The untitled Denzel Washington Hannibal film is only one of several anticipated upcoming projects from director and producer Antoine Fuqua. He is an executive producer onThe Terminal Listprequel seriesDark Wolf, which is expected to be released sometime next year.Fuqua is also set to direct an untitled series about Sammy the Bull, a notorious mobster from New York in a collaboration with Oscar-nominated writer Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street,The Sopranos). All things considered, Washington and Fuqua still have plenty of promising titles in the works even outside of their Hannibal project.
Hannibal Solves Gladiator 3’s Denzel Washington Problem
He won’t return as Macrinus is the eventual Gladiator 3
The upcoming Habbinal project satisfies one of the biggest problems for the future of the Gladiator franchise since Washington’s Macrinus won’t be able to be a part of it. Due to the ending ofGladiator II, in which Lucius has an epic showdown with Macrinus and reclaims Rome as its rightful heir,Macrinus won’t be able to return to the eventualGladiator 3, much like Crowe’s Maximus and Phoenix’s Commodus weren’t able to reprise their roles from the original film.
Even though Washington won’t be in the third Gladiator film (if it happens), his anticipated leading role in the Hannibal feature sounds like the next best thing.The announcement of the film has already sparked controversy in Tunisia, where the actual Hannibal was from. According toVariety, “there are complaints about depicting the Carthaginian general as a Black African being made in the media and the Tunisian parliament.” Despite this backlash, Washington and Fuqua appear to be moving forward with their historical epic and hope to carry Washington’s potentially Oscar-winning momentum fromGladiator IIinto what is poised to be yet another great role for the actor.
Gladiator II
Cast
Gladiator 2 is the follow-up to Ridley Scott’s award-winning film Gladiator from 2000. Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal staring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Gladiator 2 had been stuck in development hell for years before a script written by David Scarpa finally moved forward.
