He may have shot to fame for playing bookish Connell Waldron in Normal People back in 2020 – but audiences are about to see Paul Mescal in a whole new light.

The Irish actor, 28, has been cast as Lucius in the sequel to Ridley Scott’s original movie, which is set to be released in November.

As a gladiator in the first movie, Crowe boasted a muscular physique, and playing the lead in the sequel, Mescal had to also build a heftier frame. 

Gladiator II takes place several decades after the first instalment, and features Lucius (the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla) who is now living in Numidia, a region of northern Africa.

Although he was sent to Numidia as a child, the film follows Lucius’ return to Rome to reunite with his mother – and coming into conflict as he does so.  

Actor Paul Mescal (pictured) plays Lucius in the upcoming film Gladiator II – the sequel to Ridley Scott’s original movie

Here FEMAIL delves into Paul’s gruelling Gladiator transformation – and how he owes his first major blockbuster role to his sporting background. 

Fight choreography  

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the Irish actor detailed how he believed his love of Gaelic football helped him secure the lead role in the Hollywood blockbuster.

Detailing their 30 minute Zoom intro, Paul explained how he spent a considerable amount of time talking to the director Ridley about the sport he played growing up.

He said: ‘Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body.’

Although Paul wasn’t asked to do a camera test, he was required to bulk up ahead of filming – which was took place in and around Morocco and the UK. 

The actor said he did not just want to transform into a ‘Hollywood hunk’ and initially feared that he may end up looking ‘more like an underwear model than a warrior’.

As such, his training was ‘focused on fight choreography’ to build a gladiator physique – rather than sculpting him into a sex symbol’. 

The star (pictured) had to undergo a physical transformation for the role, bulking up his physique significantly

Paul added: ‘I just wanted to be big and strong and look like somebody who can cause a bit of damage when s*** hits the fan.’

Weight lifting and resistance training 

Earlier this year, footage of Paul Mescal’s Gladiator workout was widely circulated on TikTok and showed the actor doing dumbbell shoulder raises for a solid 23 seconds.

Speaking to GQ, personal trainer Robert Utley explained how weight training like this involves ‘progressively overloading the muscle to force it to adapt, grow and get stronger’.

He added: ‘You can do this by adding extra reps each week, or change the tempo to add more time under tension.’

The expert suspected that Paul may have incorporated ‘push and pull’ sessions into his ‘fight training’ workouts. 

Pictured: Footage of Paul Mescal lifting dumbbells was widely circulated on TikTok earlier this year

The viral TikTok showed the Normal People actor doing dumbbell shoulder raises for a solid 23 seconds

He added: ‘A push would be pushing the weight away from the body (think chest press) and a pull would be pulling the weight to the body (think lat pulldown).’

Personal training sessions and ‘eating everything he wanted’  

In an interview with Capital FM, Paul praised his ‘great trainer’ for helping him build his physique for the film as well as a team of nutritionists – who told him when and what to eat.

Sending a message to fans who looked up to his new build, Paul added: ‘I had the best trainer in the world, a studio and a production supporting me through it […]

‘You have to make an audience believe that this is someone who would survive intensive violence throughout the film.

Rather than become a typical ‘Hollywood hunk’, Mescal (pictured) said he did a lot of fight training to achieve the appropriate physique and skills

Pictured: Paul Mescal with Daisy Edgar-Jones in Normal People, which catapulted the pair to fame in 2020

‘And you’re not going to survive that as someone whose running around Hackney.’ 

Meanwhile, the star also told Entertainment Tonight that his workouts with trainer Tim Blakeley involved plenty of squatting and ‘lifting heavy things’. 

Appearing on Pandora Christie’s Heart Evening show on Wednesday, Paul also explained how he was encouraged to eat everything he fancied.

He explained: ‘It was lots of lifting heavy things and running around the place. But I literally had anything that I could have ever wanted.

‘Burgers and chips and everything!’

Temporarily giving up running 

During filming, the star also claims he was told to give up running in the months leading up to filming – as his team’s focus was building muscle. 

He said during a video interview with ET: ‘The closer we got to filming, I was allowed to run again!’ 

Paul is known to be an active individual and has been pictured jogging around London countless times over the past four years.

On top of this, the star previously revealed that he loves going on walks too and is a keen boxer.

In February 2021, the actor celebrated his 25th birthday by getting repeatedly punched by friends in his Australian boxing club. 

Appearing on the YouTube show Chicken Shop Date in February, Paul said: ‘I love walking, a good long walk is romantic to me. Simple pleasures, I’m a simple man.’ 

Paul Mescal seen out for a run in London shortly after Normal People began airing in lockdown in 2020

Paul Mescal grew up playing Gaelic football and has been pictured on runs around London several times over the past four years

Elsewhere in the Vanity Fair interview, Mescal’s co-star Pedro Pascal agreed that his fellow actor’s training had yielded noticeable results.

Pascal, who plays Marcus Acacius, says he had a special nickname for his co-star.

He said: ‘I call him Brick Wall Paul. He got so strong. I would rather be thrown from a building than have to fight him again.’

He added that Mescal’s strength contributed to their fight sequences being ‘challenging’ to act and film. 

Another of the Mescal’s co-stars, Joseph Quinn, also commented on the actor’s physical transformation.

Speaking to Men’s Health, Quinn described Mescal as a ‘unit’.

Praising Mescal’s dedication to the role, Quinn added that the actor has ‘definitely committed a lot to the physicality of his character’.