A new behind-the-scenes trailer reveals intense fight training for Gladiator II. Gladiator II picks up years after Maximus’ story began in Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning historical epic Gladiator, which was released in 2000. It will tell the story of Lucius as he rises to power in the Colosseum and has to find strength in fighting in the process. Gladiator II‘s leading cast includes Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, Rory McCann, and Fred Hechinger. It is set for release on November 22.

Now, Paramount has revealed a new behind-the-scenes trailer for Gladiator II. The trailer begins with director Scott explaining that “they killed people in the arena for fun” in this era of history. The trailer then transitions to explaining the physical training that went into making Gladiator II. In one exercise, a group of men holds what look to be heavy shields while a drill instructor gives them commands. The trailer contrasts some of these training sequences with the cinematic battles that are then shown on screen during Gladiator II. Speaking on the training, Pascal mentioned “I got my a** kicked.”

What This Training Will Mean For Gladiator II

Gladiator II’s Great Training Will Impact Its Violence

This Gladiator II trailer is a good reminder of the level of effort that went into making the scenes both visually impressive and true to history. In another featurette for the film, Washington explained how the Colosseum was reconstructed for the film. All of these elements reveal the high level of production value that went into creating Gladiator II‘s historical realism. In this most recent behind-the-scenes trailer, Pascal highlights the elevated training for Gladiator II well, saying that he has “had some training with swords before but not like this.”

Another important element going into Gladiator II is the amount of violence that is expected to be in the film. While the first film was notably gory, an early reaction noted that the sequel is “much bigger, rawer, and more violent than the original.” When coupled with intense fight training, the elevated levels of violence can be even more brutal. Not only will buckets of fake blood be spewed, but the actors will wield swords and other weapons as realistically as possible, making the fight sequences even more grisly.

Our Take On This Gladiator II Trailer

The Actors’ Training Seems Impressive

One of the most enticing elements of this Gladiator II trailer is Scott’s description of how the film’s actors dealt with this training work. The director mentioned both that Mescal is good at his sword work and Pascal had a fighting energy brought out by these sequences. The film’s extravagant production would indicate that Scott has high standards, so this is particularly high praise coming from him. The intensity of the main actors’ as reflected by the fighting is one of the most intriguing pieces of Gladiator II.