The New Zealand-born actor, 60, earned a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Ridley Scott’s original film, but won’t appear in Gladiator II, set to be released later this year.
Paul Mescal will star as the grandson of the original film’s Emperor Marcus Aurelius, played by Richard Harris, whose son, played by Joaquin Phoenix, killed him. Crowe’s character Maximus Decimus Meridius also died during the film.
Crowe, who played the lead character in the original Gladiator film, won't appear in the upcoming sequel.
Speaking on the podcast Kyle Meredith With..., Crowe said: “I’m slightly uncomfortable, the fact that they’re making another one, you know? 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.”
Original cast members Derek Jacobi and Connie Nielsen will return in the sequel, along with Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn.
Elsewhere during the interview, Crowe said news of the sequel made him reflect on his career after Gladiator, and “the doors that particular movie opened for me”.
“So there’s definitely a tinge – and this is just being purely honest – a tinge of melancholy, a tinge of jealousy. Because I remember when I had tendons,” he joked.
Last year, he hinted he was thinking about quitting acting for good.
As he approached 60, he contemplated whether his next chapter might take him out of the film world, according to Variety.
While at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in Czech Republic, the actor said: “You are standing in front of the mirror, and go: ‘Who the f*** is that?’ I am in that period now”.
The Les Misérables star name-dropped 86-year-old director Ridley Scott when talking about putting on the years while working in the film industry.
Russell Crowe in The Pope's Exorcist. Photo / Supplied
“I will take Ridley Scott as my role model: he is still discovering new things in his work. Or I will just stop and you will never hear from me again,” he said.
“I haven’t decided what it’s going to be. These are two very valid choices.”
He went on to say that with Scott at the helm of the new Gladiator film, he was certain it would be an epic to rival the first.
“I can’t think of this movie being anything other than spectacular,” Crowe shared.
