Paul Mescal, who plays a grown-up Lucius in the sequel, shares his reaction to the twist: “Holy s—.”

Like father, like son.

The new Gladiator II trailer just dropped online, and with it comes a major reveal: Lucius (Paul Mescal) is, in fact, the son of Maximus (played by Russell Crowe in the first film), and not Lucius Verus I, as he was made to believe his whole life. The revelation has major implications for both films, giving heightened meaning to all of the Maximus lore shown in promos for the sequel so far.

In the trailer below, his mother, Lucilla (played in both films by Connie Nielsen), reveals the news as he readies for a battle in the Colosseum. But Mescal knew of his character’s paternity from his first talks with director Ridley Scott. “He mentioned it in the talk, but then it’s an affronting thing to see it written on the page, and [to have] that responsibility fall on your shoulders is interesting,” he tells Entertainment Weekly.

 

Paul Mescal as Lucius in ‘Gladiator II’; Russell Crowe as Maximus in ‘Gladiator’. Aidan Monaghan/Paramount; DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett

While his parentage is never explicitly revealed in 2000’s Gladiator, the seeds of the idea that he might be Maximus’s son are certainly there. After all, Lucilla and Maximus were known lovers in the past, and Maximus and Lucius share a special moment in the film where it’s clear the little boy (played by Spencer Treat Clark) looks up to the acclaimed warrior. Even still, Mescal says he was shocked when he learned the news: “Oh, absolutely. I was like, ‘Holy s—.'”

 

While he admits that the legacy inherent in the reveal is “inescapable,” he didn’t feel like it changed much about his approach to the character himself. “The screenplay does a lot of that work for you in terms of the rubbing the dirt between the hands, the kind of DNA, and the genetics that Lucius inherits,” he says. “So I kind of tried to park that to one side because ultimately, where Lucius is coming from at the start of the film, he has a very different journey than Maximus does. And I was hoping that whatever DNA and even just the physical gestures was going to be one part of, and a kind of small part of, the performance. But then what I tried to do is figure out exactly who Lucius was and where those differences lay between Lucius and Maximus.”

The sequel reveals that Lucius had been sent away from Rome as a child by his mother for his protection. But when the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome conquer his new home, he is captured and, like his father, forced to become a gladiator. Now resentful of Rome and his mother, Lucius enters the Colosseum to get revenge and fulfill his destiny.

The trailer also features a more in-depth look at the motivations of Denzel Washington‘s character, Macrinus, a powerful businessman and gladiator owner, as well as more clues to the connection between Pedro Pascal‘s General Acacius and Lucius.