Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Florence Pugh, Pedro Pascal
The sands of the arena have drunk the blood of emperors and slaves alike, but the thirst of Rome is never quenched. Gladiator III: The Last Caesar thrusts the dying empire into its absolute darkest hour. Five years after Lucius (Paul Mescal) seized his bloody destiny within the Colosseum, the dream of a free Rome is crumbling under the crushing weight of civil war and relentless barbarian invasions breaching the northern borders.
Paul Mescal returns in a tour-de-force performance as a battle-hardened, soul-weary Lucius. No longer just a reluctant hero, he is now a solitary leader fighting a losing war against the very corruption he sought to destroy. Denzel Washington reprises his role as the Machiavellian power-broker, Macrinus, whose shifting alliances and shadowy manipulations have now pit the Senate against the people, threatening to tear the very fabric of the empire apart from the inside.
However, the true threat rises from the ashes of history. A new, terrifying tyrant—fueled by the fanaticism of a forgotten, blood-thirsty cult—challenges Lucius’s claim to the soul of Rome. The legions are broken, the people are starving, and the gods have gone silent. To save the city from burning to the ground, Lucius must do the unthinkable: abdicate the safety of his power, strip away his armor, and step back into the arena for one final, legendary combat.
Epic, visceral, and heartbreakingly tragic, Gladiator III is a brutal meditation on power, sacrifice, and legacy. It poses the ultimate, haunting question: when the empire finally falls, who is left to bury the dead?