Sixteen years after "Maximus" (Russell Crowe) bit the dust, we find ancient Rome under the control of twins "Geta" (Joseph Quinn) and his brother "Caracalla" (Fred Hechinger) and thanks to their general "Acacias" (Pedro Pascal) continuing to expand their empire. It's this latter man who leads an attack on the home "Nanno" (Paul Mescal) shares with his wife "Arishat" (Yuval Gonen). That doesn't go so well and next thing, she's gone on ahead of him to the wheat fields and he's now a slave owned by the manipulative "Macrinus" (Denzel Washington) heading to the Colosseum to entertain the emperors ...