Gladiator 2’s Real-Life Villains, Explained

Summary

• Gladiator II
  focuses on Lucius Verus, not Maximus, and introduces historical figures Geta and Caracalla as sibling co-emperors.
• The trailer hints at a promising ensemble cast, with Denzel Washington as Macrinus playing a key role in Caracalla’s assassination plot.
• Ridley Scott may take creative liberties with history in
  Gladiator II
  , potentially exploring Caracalla’s tyrannical reign and dramatic downfall.

Get ready to be entertained once again. After years of speculation, Ridley Scott’s sequel to his 2000 Best Picture winner, Gladiator, is finally hitting the big screen this Thanksgiving. This week’s trailer gave us the first clear hints at the direction the story will take; considering Maximus died at the end of the original, it initially seemed impossible for Scott to make a direct sequel. But Gladiator II will focus on Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal), who played a small part in the original as Commodus’s nephew who idolized Maximus.

The film already promises an exciting ensemble, with scenes from the trailer hinting at likely incredible performances from the likes of Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington. But the biggest question marks in the cast so far are Emperors Geta and Caracalla (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger), the supposed antagonists of the picture. They’re actually historical figures who briefly served as co-emperors of Rome, but if the first film is any indication, it seems likely that Ridley Scott will diverge the historical facts if the story demands it.

Who Were Emperors Geta and Caracalla?

Geta and Caracalla Formed a Sibling Rivalry

Geta and Caracalla were born in 188 and 189 AD to Septimius Severus, who was a provincial governor in the service of Emperor Commodus at the time. In 193, Severus became the new Roman emperor. As his political might grew, he brought a brief period of social stability after a years-long clash between the Roman empire in the aftermath of Commodus’s death. Severus knew securing his family legacy was imperative, and he appointed Caracalla as his second-in-command while Geta handled his administrative and bureaucratic duties.

Before he died in 209 AD, he appointed both his children as co-emperors of Rome, but his final act brought back the social instability that defined the reigns of his predecessors. Even when their father was alive, Caracalla and Geta struggled to get along, and when given the highest position in the country to share, when both were only in their 20s, they found themselves incapable of sharing power, and their rivalry exploded.

Things got to the point where the Imperial Palace was divided into two halves, one for each brother to reside in, and none of the servants from one half were allowed into the other. Geta and Caracalla only met face to face when in the presence of their mother, Julia Domma, who helped keep the peace between them. Nonetheless, both brothers would also be accompanied by members of the military guard, as each was scared of the possibility of being assassinated. At one point, they proposed splitting the entire empire into two halves to jointly rule over, but their mother almost immediately rejected the idea.

Eventually, relations between the two brothers broke down completely, and Caracalla tried unsuccessfully on multiple occasions to have Geta killed. Finally, by the end of 211, he had Julia Domma arrange a peace meeting in her home, and when Geta was finally alone with her, without his bodyguards, members of the Praetorian Guard broke in and killed him in his mother’s arms. Caracalla promptly assumed full power, and the siblings’ legacy as the Cain and Abel of the Roman Empire was permanently sealed.

Caracalla Was a Tyrannical Leader

As sole emperor, Caracalla was widely known as a tyrant, as he regularly ordered massacres both in Rome and across the empire. Shortly after Geta’s murder, he had his brother’s image forcibly removed from every painting in the city and had his loyalists executed. Caracalla had a couple of notable legislative successes during his reign, most notably his issuing of the Antoine Constitution, which granted Roman citizenship to all free men throughout the empire. Nonetheless, history predominantly remembers him as one of the Roman Empire’s cruelest leaders.

His reign proved prone to collapse shockingly quickly. In 216, he sought to expand Rome’s reach and launched a failed campaign to invade the neighboring Parthian Empire. Battle after battle, his men faced defeat, and ultimately, one of his soldiers, Justin Martialis, became fed up with his emperor over his refusal to make him a centurion. With help from praetorian prefect Macrinus (who, crucially, is set to be played by Denzel Washington in Gladiator II), Martialis killed his leader. Almost immediately after, he was killed in return, and three days later, Macrinus became the new Roman emperor.

How Will Gladiator II Depict Them?

Ridley Scott Could Change History

Of course, it’s important to remember that while the original Gladiator used many real historical figures, Ridley Scott was not shy about playing loose with the facts to tell a good story. Maximus was invented entirely for the film, at least one major battle was moved in the timeline for dramatic purposes, and the circumstances involving the deaths of both Marcus Aurelius and Commodus were almost entirely different. So it won’t be surprising if Scott uses the same approach for Gladiator II, only sticks to the most basic facts about Caracalla and Geta’s relationship, and then goes off in a new direction.

This week’s trailer featured the two brothers only fleetingly, but through the brief glimpses we catch of them, they seem to indeed be co-emperors. Their sibling rivalry, in theory, seems like too good a story for Ridley Scott to pass up. But even more intriguing is how the trailer highlights Denzel Washington’s Macrinus, the man who played a hand in Caracalla’s assassination. The film’s depiction seems to take historical liberties already, as the real Macrinus was never enslaved, but the character’s clear desire to take Rome for himself seems accurate.

Does this mean the film could potentially get into a recreation of Caracalla’s murder, even if it’s a somewhat fictionalized one? It’s too soon to say, but it’s certainly a fascinating historical backdrop Ridley Scott could use to build Gladiator II around and build off the first film’s legacy. We can’t wait to see more when the film opens this Thanksgiving. Gladiator II is in theaters on November 22.