[Music] Denzel Washington's character is one of the biggest draws of Gladiator 2 and his role in the upcoming sequel sounds much bigger than we realized the cast of Gladiator 2o sounds excellent with major stars like Paul mcow Pedro Pascal and others playing major characters in the film however the marketing campaign for Gladiator 2 has heavily focused on Denzel Washington's involvement which is admittedly exciting for any movie that gets the actor luckily it looks like Denzel Washington may be in Gladiator to more than the marketing is letting on after Decades of waiting Ridley Scott is finally returning to make a sequel to the critically acclaimed 2000 hit Gladiator with the upcoming sequel focusing on mostly all new characters in an all new story one of the biggest new additions to Gladiator 2 is Denzel Washington's Mac rhus a former slave who has the ambition of overthrowing the Roman Empire the first trailer for Gladiator 2 makes it seem like macrinus is mostly operating in the background pulling strings in order to get Paul muscal Lucius to take down Roman royalty for him Denzel Washington's Gladiator to roll could campaign for best actor at the Oscars not supporting meaning that he is in the movie more than we think although Denzel Washington's macrinus doesn't seem to be the film's main character it looks like he could be campaigning for the best actor award at the Oscars instead of best supporting actor according to variety's official Oscars predictions it looks like Denzel Washington's role in Gladiator 2 is significant enough that he could go either way with the film having the potential to get him a best actor nomination it looks like the actor's Awards chances will entirely depend on what direction the studio campaigns for meaning it is possible that Washington could be more than a supporting actor award season always has a lot of politics involved so it is entirely possible that this is all speculation and that Denzel Washington gets nominated for best supporting actor after all it would be difficult to campaign for best actor nominations for Denzel Washington as well as Paul mcal who is undoubtedly the protagonist of Gladiator 2 the advertising for Gladiator 2 also makes Pedro Pascal's Marcus acaas seem like the film's second biggest character not Denzel Washington's macrinus making his best actor potential even stranger is Denzel Washington the main villain of Gladiator 2 or is it Pedro Pascal the role of Denzel Washington's macrinus in Gladiator 2 is a bit mysterious with the film not letting on if he will be the true main villain when looking for an antagonist in the upcoming sequel it seems obvious to point the finger at Pedro Pascal's Marcus accius after all the Roman Empire encompassed every villain in the first Gladiator and since Lucius goal seems to be to take the Empire down it only makes sense for a Roman figurehead like Marcus acacius to be the main villain however Denzel Washington's macrinus has all the makings of a Twist villain macrinus is clearly manipulating Lucius with him pulling the strings in the shadows while Lucius seems to be acting as the public face of macrinus Revolution it is entirely possible that macrinus and Lucius are completely aligned in their goals with macrinus acting as more of a mentor than a threat however it would be odd to have the element of someone controlling Lucius without them ever coming into conflict in Gladiator 2 story Denzel Washington is less likely to be Gladiator 2's version of proximo he seems to have more villainous intentions when drawing parallels between Gladiator and Gladiator 2 the most obvious comparison to Denzel Washington's sequel character is proximo while proximo was the well-intentioned mentor of Russell crows maximus in the original movie macrinus seems less pure the trailer for Gladiator too highlights that macrinus is more aggressive and sarcastic than proximo meaning that he could end up making rash or even intentionally villainous decisions later in the movie it wouldn't be surprising to see Lucius turn against macrinus at some point in Gladiator 2 something that didn't happen in the original film since Lucius is a blood relative of those in charge of the Roman Empire macrinus radical approach to taking down Rome could put the two in Conflict painting macrinus in more of a villainous light casting an actor as big as Denzel Washington means that Gladiator 2 has to have a bigger plan for the character than it is letting on with this being one of the most exciting parts of the sequel