The first trailer for the upcoming ‘Gladiator’ sequel, out Nov. 22, was released on Tuesday.

The upcoming sequel to the 2000 movie, features the Aftersun star as Lucius Verus, the nephew of Commodus, the patricidal traitor-turned-emperor played b Joaquin Phoenix  in the first film.

After years living on his own, away from the Roman Empire and his mother, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), Lucius is brought back to Rome to enter the Colosseum himself, attempting to follow in the footsteps of his childhood hero, Maximus — the role that won Russell Crowe the Best Actor Oscar back in 2001.

In the trailer of the sequel — once again directed by Ridley Scott —  Lucius says that, despite growing up far removed from his royal Roman roots, he’s never forgotten the day Maximus took revenge against Commodus

“That rage is your gift,” promises Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a wealthy arms dealer who conscripts Lucius into his stable of gladiators.

Lucius wants revenge on “the entire Roman army,” but given the impossibility of that, he admits, “the general will do.”

That general is Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), who, despite training under Maximus, represents everything Lucius despises about the Roman Empire. The pair first squared off when Marcus led the Roman army to take Numidia — the region of northern Africa where Lucilla sent Lucius as a boy — and meet once again in the deadly Colosseum.

Gladiator II’s other main antagonists are the twin brother co-emperors Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) and Geta (Joseph Quinn), cruel and power-hungry rulers, who, upon hearing that their people are starving, declare, “They can eat war!” (Geta also gleefully recreates Commodus’ infamous thumbs down in the trailer.).”

At the end of the first Gladiator, Maximus succumbs to injuries he earned while leading a violent attempt to overthrow Commodus, meaning the Oscar winner’s character could not return for the sequel — a fact which has seemingly led to some skepticism from the actor.

“But, a couple of things that I’ve heard, I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. That’s not in the moral journey of that particular character,'” he continued. “But, you know, can’t say anything. It’s not my place. I’m six foot under. So we’ll see what that is like.”

The film also stars Derek Jacobi as Senator Gracchus, Tim McInnerny as Thraex and Alexander Karim as Ravi, plus Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, May Calamawy and more.