A deleted kiss and Paul Mescal's leg exercises: These details will change how you watch Gladiator II.

After months of anticipation and refreshing your Google search for 'Paul Mescal in short shorts', Gladiator II has finally arrived. Are we not entertained??

We are! In fact, this writer gave the film a rave review.

Over 24 years since the original Gladiator, Ridley Scott returned to direct the sequel. In the sizeable shoes of Russell Crowe is Paul Mescal as Lucius Verus, the son of Maximus and Lucilla, alongside Pedro Pascal as General Marcus Acacius and Denzel Washington as Macrinus.

Watch the trailer for Gladiator II. Post continues after video.

Set 15 years after the original, the story follows Lucius, who becomes a gladiator after Roman forces (led by Acacius) invade his home in Numidia and enslave him. Under the control of Macrinus, a former slave turned arms dealer, Lucius fights for revenge while becoming entangled in a plot to overthrow the young emperors, Geta and Caracalla (played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger).

So now that Gladiator II is finally out in the big wide world, what else is there to do but dig up some juicy behind-the-scenes secrets to make this cinematic spectacle all the more interesting?

If this movie is your Roman Empire (sorry, had to), then enjoy!

The original Gladiator II movie was scrapped.

Ridley Scott has spilled that Steven Spielberg convinced him not to move forward with an entirely different (and may I say, kooky) sequel written years earlier by musician Nick Cave. In a chat with The New York Times, Scott shared that in Cave's story, Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) was resurrected. Spooky!

"There was even a sequel idea that the musician Nick Cave wrote, where Maximus is resurrected as an instrument of the Roman gods dispatched against Jesus Christ. That obviously didn't happen. It got too grand. Nick is very high theater, and Steven Spielberg [who was consulted on the original film] said, 'Nah.' I wasn't confident about what we had actually put together, so I just let it go."

Russell Crowe hasn't had the best things to say about the sequel.

The Australian actor has expressed some concerns with the sequel, which he claims he was never asked to return to.

"I'm slightly uncomfortable, the fact they're making another one, you know?" Crowe told the Kyle Meredith with… podcast in June. "Because of course, I'm dead, and I have no say in what gets done. A couple of things that I've heard, I'm like, 'No, no, no. That's not in the moral journey of that particular character.'

"But you know, I can't say anything. That's not my place. I'm six feet under. So we'll see what that is like."

Russell Crowe is not entertained!! Image: DreamWorks.

Crowe didn't give Mescal his blessing to revive the film, as the Normal People actor confirmed he never spoke to the OG Gladiator star.

"We haven't spoken to each other," he told Pedestrian.TV. Mescal's co-star Fred Hechinger, who plays Emperor Caracalla, joked that he had spoken to Crowe.

"I spoke with him for my role though," Hechinger added. To this, Mescal said "Yeah, Russell and Fred are fast friends."

But there's no bad blood between Crowe and Mescal. The Beautiful Mind actor wished Mescal luck with the film. "I hear that young fella Paul is a good dude and I wish him the best of luck with it," Crowe said on The Ryan Tubridy Show.

"I think where they're picking the story up from, a young Lucius, stepping into the role of emperor. I think that's a very smart idea within the world of the film that we created."

Denzel Washington said a gay kiss was deleted from the final version of Gladiator II.

Denzel Washington admitted in an interview with Gayety that a gay kiss was cut from Gladiator II.

"I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken," Washington said. "I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren't ready for that yet."

But if you thought we were robbed of some wholesome love story, think again. "I killed him about five minutes later. It's Gladiator. It's the kiss of death," Washington added.

Paul Mescal only had 12 weeks to hit the gym for the role.

Mescal only had 12 weeks to prepare for the grueling role, so he reached out to Tim Blakeley, a former Navy man, current bodybuilder and personal trainer to the stars.

"The brief was [for Mescal] to put on size and get stronger. He didn't want to go down the Marvel route of looking cartoony — we were thinking back-row rugby player type; strong, fit, fast, and agile like a decathlete," Blakeley told GQ.

Blakeley and Mescal worked out five or six days a week, with the PT noting that Mescal would perform on the West End straight after their sessions. At the time, Mescal was performing in A Streetcar Named Desire, a play he's set to return to as the production heads to Broadway.

Image: Instagram/@pascalispunk.

The PT noted that when working out, there was an emphasis on Mescal's famous thighs.

"A lot of actors miss leg day, but it was really important to us," Blakeley says. You don't say! Those short shorts won't wear themselves!

"If you're running around an arena, you need big powerful legs. It also helps your gait. We wanted him to walk into that arena with a powerful walk, and he did." Amen.

The training regime was brutal, especially for Pedro Pascal.

When pre-production began, Mescal and Pascal headed into training to prepare for their battle sequences. It was an experience that Pascal doesn't look back at fondly, as he said that Mescal was an intimidating adversary.

"He got so strong. I would rather be thrown from a building than have to fight him again," Pascal told Vanity Fair. "To go up against somebody that fit and that talented and that much younger… It's brutal, man. I call him Brick Wall Paul."

In a teaser video for the film, Ridley Scott said Paul was "very fast" and "very good with the sword."

Paul referred to the fight scenes as "just an absolutely mad experience."

Again, Pascal was less enthused.

"There was a lot of very physical training. I got my a** kicked," he added.

Paul Mescal is keen for another sequel.

The actor is ready and willing to jump back onto the Colosseum stage.

When asked by Variety at the film's London premiere if he'd be keen for Gladiator III, Mescal immediately said "Oh yeah, massively down… I don't think it will be years — but I have no idea when it will be."

Until that day potentially comes, Mescal and Scott are already in talks to collaborate on the apocalyptic thriller, The Dog Stars.

Feature image: Paramount Pictures.