Gladiator 2 Becomes a Musical in SNL Parody Trailer

Saturday Night Live turned Gladiator II into a musical this week, complete with song and dance by Paul Mescal himself. The actor hosted SNL this week and participated in a pre-recorded sketch that parodied a trailer for “Gladiator Twosical.” Commenters were surprised at how well the idea actually worked.

The narrator of this fake trailer explained that Gladiator II had been edited and re-shot as a musical to mimic the success of Wicked and Moana 2 at the box office. It kicks off with a rousing chorus of “No Place Like Rome” before taking us into the Colosseum itself, where Mescal’s dance skills blended surprisingly well with the fight choreography. In fact, Mescal proved himself to be a true triple threat in this sketch – he even got in on the obligatory Broadway rap song, gripping his sword like a microphone.

The sketch acknowledged that Gladiator II has done well at the box office without any musical numbers. The movie has earned over $338 million at the box office, setting a few obscure records along the way. However, it’s also true that Gladiator II took a big hit in its second weekend and finished third behind Moana 2 and Wicked – likely due to the Thanksgiving holiday, when more moviegoers were looking for a family crowd-pleaser instead of an R-rated epic.

This crossover was a great choice for Mescal, capitalizing on his star power outside of the Colosseum to draw in fans who may not have been interested in Gladiator II otherwise. Mescal is no stranger to musicals – his very first stage performance at age 16 was playing the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. This helped him get admitted to an acting program in college, and he graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in acting.

Of course, the musical parody is a staple of SNL, and the whole cast brought their A-game as usual. It’s notable that series alum Andy Samberg made a brief appearance in this sketch, singing and dancing with the ensemble in the background without taking center-stage himself. Samberg rejoined SNL this season to play Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff in the show’s election parodies, but he has also shown up more generally in sketches and digital shorts. It’s not exactly clear how much longer Samberg will be around, as he seems to say on his podcast each week that it was a last-minute decision to stay on.

You can see SNL‘s Gladiatior II Trailer parody on YouTube along with the rest of this week’s sketches, or stream the full episode now on Peacock. Gladiator II is now showing in theaters.