How often do you think about the Roman empire?

If your answer is along the lines of ‘Less than Mary Beard and that weird dad off TikTok, but significantly more than I used to since the Gladiator II cast was announced,’ you’re among friends.

Twenty-four years after the first Gladiator film, starring Russell Crowe as Maximus, the Roman general who was betrayed and sold into slavery to become a gladiator/vengeance-wreaker, we’re back with a sequel.

Picking up a few years after the events of the first film, we follow Paul Mescal as the now grown-up Lucius (Commodus’s nephew and the son of Connie Nielsen’s character, Lucilla) and The Last of Us’s Pedro Pascal as Marcus Acacius, a new Roman general. Spoiler alert: the two of them really don’t get on.

For an empire that fell over 1,500 years ago, ancient Rome is still surprisingly active when it comes to inspiring popular culture. There are the more obvious things like Shakespeare (four of his plays are set in ancient Rome) and Star Wars, but even Jeremy Scott’s pre-fall 2019 collection for Moschino involved centurion helmets and golden chest plates, and Fendi’s spring/summer 2024 collection was inspired by the luxury and elegance of Rome. Meanwhile, interiors’ ongoing love affair with herringbone floors and marble accents is inspired by – you guessed it – classical Italian villas. It’s no surprise, then, that Gladiator would be ripe for a sequel.

Gladiator II sees Ridley Scott (director) and David Scarpa (writer) team up once again following their work on 2023’s historical epic Napoleon. This writer, however, is still slightly disappointed that the studio didn’t go with Nick Cave’s earlier script, which saw Maximus reincarnated, achieve immortality and lead a tank battalion into battle during the Second World War. “Don’t like it, mate,” was Russell Crowe’s reaction at the time.

So, to help you while away the days until Pedro in a leather tunic becomes something you can watch on a large screen, here are some of our favourite TV shows and films set during the heady days of the Roman empire.

8 TV shows and films to satisfy all of your ancient Rome cravings while you wait for Gladiator II to be released