Crowe won a Best Actor Oscar for playing the character of Maximus, who dies at the end of the 2000 original Russell Crowe doesn't return to the Colosseum in the long anticipated sequel to Gladiator — but it wasn't for a lack of trying.

Gladiator II director Ridley Scott shares how original film star Russell Crowe nearly featured in the sequel and why it didn't work out.

Ridley Scott's Gladiator turned Russell Crowe into a next-level star. Their four subsequent movies turned him back into a character actor.