“Lucius, take your father’s strength. His name was Maximus, and I see him in you.”
Gladiator II‘s newest trailer dropped an epic bombshell in the Colosseum. Lucilla’s son Lucius is really the child of General Maximus from Gladiator. That familial bond will give Lucius’ story as Rome’s unlikely new hero greater meaning. But is this previously unknown connection simply a retcon? Or is it confirmation of something the original film was clearly suggesting? The answer depends on how good of a liar you think Lucilla really is.
Gladiator never revealed exactly what led to Maximus and Lucilla breaking up many years before the start of the film. All we learned was they had once loved each other very much when they were younger. We also learned they never really stopped caring for one another.
We don’t know the specific reason they broke up. The movie hints at some possibilities, none of which have to do with Lucius. It’s obvious things did not end well between them, though. Each had “wounded” the other deeply. Their first few interactions also showed Lucilla and Maximus both still felt the pain from their split. They experienced the kind of hurt you can only suffer from losing someone you truly cared about.
Both did move on, though. Lucilla eventually got married and she and her late husband had a son “nearly eight years old,” the same age of Maximus’ son with his wife.
Rewatching that conversation now, the first between the two in Gladiator, with the knowledge Lucius is Maximus’ son makes this revelation feel like a retcon. (As do all of the other times they talk about either of their children.) The scene is full of obvious animosity and distrust. An uneasy Maximus tries to walk away from her multiple times. It’s only when they talk about their kids that both Lucilla and Maximus show actual warmth towards one another. Their anger and awkwardness fades away for that brief moment.
In print, that might sound like evidence Lucilla was keeping the truth from him, but it doesn’t play that way in Connie Nielsen’s performance onscreen. It comes across as though their children are the one thing that separates the former lovers because neither child is connected to the other. Their shared pain comes from their previous relationship. Their kids were not a part of that. And at no point in the film, which implies the two broke up more than a decade ago, does Maximus ever think he’s Lucius real father. They don’t look alike, either.
That reading also works within the context of the story, because shortly after this moment Commodus orders the murders of Maximus’ wife and son. The loss of his own child helps motivate Maximus to work with Lucilla, whom he resents yet cares for. Her entire motivation in the film becomes protecting her son from his maniacal Emperor uncle. She doesn’t care about avenging her father or making Rome a republic once more. She only wants to keep Lucius safe. And she convinces an angry and untrusting Maximus she needs help by appealing to him as a parent. That helps win over the honorable Maximus.
But while the scenes where Lucilla discusses her son with Maximus make Gladiator II‘s revelation feel like a retcon, they’re not definitive proof they are for some very compelling reasons.
(Note: We’re talking retcon in a strictly in-world sense rather than what Ridley Scott originally planned nearly 25 years ago. This might be a true retcon off-screen, but were evaluating this question purely on-screen.)
Lucilla told Maximus she had “felt alone all my life” except when she was with him. She also told him her brother was jealous because both her and her father loved Maximus, and their love was the one thing Commodus craved. And she knew better than anyone her brother was completely unhinged and not even she could control him if in certain cases. That’s exactly why she never would have—or even could have—told Maximus Lucius was his child while Commodus lived. Her number one motivation after her brother killed their father was to keep Lucius safe, and the number one thing that would have endangerd her boy was that fact getting out.
She trusted Maximus to keep her song safe, but until Commodus was dead and Maximus ruled Rome, it was too dangerous to tell the General the truth. If Commodus ever found out his beloved nephew was really the child of the man he detested it would have meant Lucius’ head. Commodus would have done it, too. After the new Emperor found out his sister betrayed him he convincingly promised to kill his nephew if Lucilla so much as looked at her brother the wrong way ever again.
Could Lucilla have kept such an important secret from everyone for so long, even Maximus, while her dad was alive? It would have been easy for the eight or nine previous years before Gladiator. They didn’t see one another during that time. It would also explain why two people who loved each other so much split up and had so much animosity for one another. (Especially Maximus, who had far more anger for her than she did for him.) The unwed daughter of the Emperor getting pregnant with a Spanish soldier’s son would put them all at risk. Especially Maximus. Burying the truth was the only way to protect him.
If she broke up with him without telling him the actual reason why it’s easy to understand why she wounded Maximus so much. It’s also obvious why she would have kept that secret forever from Maximus. The general died moments after he killed Commodus.
Whether or not Gladiator II is truly retconning the identity of Lucius’ father comes down to one question: Could Lucilla have convincingly kept the truth from both him and the audience? There’s not even a hint of Lucius’ secret parentage in her words. There’s not even a slight look that suggest that. If it was always true she concealed it so well that even after decades of rewatching Gladiator we’re wondering if this is a total creation of a sequel desperate for meaning and connections to the original film. So could she have really been that good of a liar?
Everything we learned about her in the film says yes. Her father gave her the highest praise when he told her, “If only you had been born a man, what a Caesar you would have made.” That spoke to her political skills and tactfulness. Senator Gracchus also extolled her self-control under pressure during a tense meeting with Commodus. He told Lucilla, “Your lightest touch commands obedience.” She also conspired against her brother while simultaneously manipulating him. And when an angry Maximus grabbed her throat and accused her of lying, she calmly explained how she’d lived every day since her father’s murder in quiet fear. Sharing her real emotions would only imperil her son. But she was always able to manage those, even from those she loved.
Lucilla was smart, cunning, capable, and disciplined. And she desperately loved her son. If anyone could hide the dangerous truth about Lucius’ father from Maximus, Rome, her own father, Commodus, and everyone watching Gladiator it was her. So while you might rewatch Gladiator and think its sequel’s big revelation is a retcon, it’s still a totally believable one because we can believe Lucilla was so good at keeping a dangerous secret.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist who saw Gladiator in the theater four times when it came out. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
