Why Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal's Gladiator II trailer is already dividing fans

Some people are upset

Paul Mescal in Gladiator II
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures / X)
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Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal are set to star in the upcoming film Gladiator II, and we've just been treated to an epic trailer.

But while loads of people are excited to see the action flick, some fans weren't so happy with the song choice for the preview: "No Church in the Wild," the 2011 track from Jay-Z and Kanye West.

After Paramount Pictures posted the trailer to X, one person commented, "Beautiful trailer, horrible music," while another added, "The rap music kill the atmosphere."

Elsewhere, someone wrote, "the song in the gladiator 2 trailer took me completely out of the moment, who chose that ???"

Meanwhile, someone else said, "How did Ridley Scott: A) Sign off on the wildly anachronistic song choice for this Gladiator 2 trailer? and B) Allow Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington to do a NY accent in a movie set in Ancient Rome?"

Others expressed their preference for the trailer to use the movie's original soundtrack, composed by Harry Gregson-Williams.

Still, most people appeared to love the song choice, and poked fun at those who disagreed. "Gladiator 2 looks f***ing incredible I cannot imagine being one of those nerds upset about a song choice," wrote one X user.

Someone else made a hilarious joke about it: "liked the gladiator two trailer but i can't believe Ridley Scott would make a historical error this big: they didn't have cameras back then so it was impossible to make a movie about gladiators. Next time he should hire a real historian to consult with"

The Aftersun star and The Last of Us actor will star in Gladiator II alongside Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and Joseph Quinn. The movie is directed by Ridley Scott and will be released on 15 November. It is of course a sequel to the 2000 movie Gladiator. We cannot wait.

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire. As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles. Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.