Even as legacy sequels go, Gladiator 2 is coming a long time after the original movie. The new 2024 blockbuster, which comes out on Friday, November 15 in the UK and Friday, November 22 in the US, arrives a full 24 years after the original, and so you'd be forgiven for being a bit hazy on the plot points it continues.
Starring Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, Gladiator 2 stars the former as Lucius, the son of Maximus, and the latter as Marcus Acacius, a general who trained under Maximus (all in Roman times, of course). When Acacius invades Numidia, where Lucius lives with his wife, the latter is taken as a slave to fight as a gladiator and is brought into a wider plot to bring down emperors.
But if you don't remember Gladiator, you might have questions: who's Lucius? Who's Maximus? What does a gladiator do?
While Gladiator 2 doesn't require a knowledge of the first movie, it'd definitely help. Luckily, the original Gladiator is now streaming for free online.
If you live in the US, Philo TV has Gladiator in its library, while in the UK it's ITVX that you can use to watch the movie. This ensures that if you don't remember the plot or characters of Gladiator or, if by some accident, you haven't ever seen it, you'll be well versed in the proceedings ready for Gladiator 2.
And it's not just character mentions which link the two movies as some cast members from the first movie are also in the second, including Connie Nielsen as Lucius' mother Lucilla, and Derek Jacobi as Roman Senator Gracchus.
Both of these free streaming options have ads which will play during the movie, but each region has ways to avoid them: Paramount Plus and ITVX Premium respectively.
The fact that Gladiator is so easy to watch online, suggests that it's an intentional strategy by Paramount to ensure people will watch it and get excited for Gladiator 2. As a result it's probably going to be on other free streaming sites around the world. If it's not, you could always use a VPN for streaming in order to find another country's option.
