Russell Crowe really wanted to be in Gladiator II, despite the obvious problem that his characters dies in the first movie, according to director Ridley Scott.

Indeed, long before the version of Gladiator II starring Paul Mescal was created, director Ridley Scott tried to find a way to bring Crowe’s character Maximus back for a sequel.

“Russell and I had a go at it around 18 years ago,” Scott recently told People. “I had Nick Cave writing the script and I kept saying [to Crowe], ‘But you’re dead.’ And he said, ‘I know I’m dead. And I want to come back from the dead.’”

Scott had considered trying a “portal to bring him back from the dead” as one way to get Crowe back in the sequel.

“The only way of doing it was to go to another battle and through a dying warrior, he comes back into the spirit of the warrior,” Scott said. “So that’s his portal.”

But Crowe didn’t like the idea, because another actor would have to play the dying warrior who serves as the conduit for Maximus.

“He said, ‘So that’s no f—ing good, is it?’” Scott remembers Crowe reacting. “It didn’t really work.”

Nick Cave also wrote a script for a Gladiator sequel all the way back in 2001 that would have Crowe’s Maximus return as a sort of immortal ghost that was able travel through time.

According to Den of Geek, Crowe asked Cave to write a script that “sorted out” the problem of his character being dead, which he could then show to Scott to convince him to work him into the sequel.

In the script, which was temporarily titled Christ-Killer, Cave had Maximus waking up in a sort of purgatory version of the afterlife alongside dying Roman gods. They tell him that he must stop the new religion of Christianity from spreading by killing Hephaestos, the God of fire, so that he can finally be at peace and reunite with his dead wife in Elysium. The script got a whole lot more complex, but basically, Maximus is able to return to the ancient Rome 20 years after his death.

Also Read: Who Is Denzel Washington’s Gladiator II Character, Macrinus?

But Crowe didn’t approve of that script either.

More From Russell Crowe About Gladiator II

Now that 24 years have passed since the original Gladiator came out, Crowe has said he’s not sure what to think about the sequel, coming out on Friday.

He did win an Academy Award for best actor for his role as Maximus, so it makes sense that he would be nostalgic and want to come back for one more go.

On the Kyle Meredith With… podcast, Crowe said he was “slightly uncomfortable with the fact they’re making another one.”

“Because, of course, I’m dead and I have no say in what gets done,” he said.

He doesn’t agree with all of the plot points in the new film, which stars Paul Mescal as Maximus’ son, Lucius, alongside Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, and Joseph Quinn.

“A couple of the things I’ve heard I’m like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character,’” he said. “But I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six feet under. So we’ll see what that is like.”

Sadly for Crowe, he did not get to appear in the sequel at all. But hey, there’s always next time! Scott told USA Today “yes, it’s true” that he’s planning on making Gladiator III as well.

Hopefully we won’t have to wait another 24 years for that one.

Main Image: Russell Crowe in Gladiator (2000), DreamWorks, Universal Pictures