Years after the death of his father Maximus, Paul Mescal’s Lucius becomes a gladiator and faces off against Pedro Pascal’s General Acacius to restore glory to the Roman empire in the trailer of Gladiator II, a sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 film headlined by Russel Crowe.

Dropped by Paramount Pictures on Tuesday, the three-minute-9-second-long trailer picks up after the heroic death of Russell Crowe’s Maximus in the original film. The video begins with Lucius, the grown-up son of Lucilla and Maximus, living in the north African region of Numidia, where he was sent by his mother for protection from the Roman empire. While Rome is being conquered by tyrannical rulers, Lucius lives peacefully with his wife and children in the foreign land. However, when Roman soldiers led by Pascal’s General Acacius invade, Lucius is forced into slavery in Rome.

Inspired by the story of his father, Lucius resolves to fight in the Colosseum arena as a gladiator and rise up the ranks to gain power. Opposing the powers that rule Rome with an iron fist, Lucius embarks on a treacherous journey, driven by rage, vengeance and redemption.

Denzel Washington also stars in the film as Macrinus, a wealthy Roman powerbroker who keeps a track of gladiators in the arena. Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, on the other hand, play the tyrannical twin emperors of Rome.

The trailer ends with Mescal’s Lucius and Pascal’s Acacius facing off in the arena, with the former avenging his father’s death and the fall of the Roman empire.

Connie Nielsen and Djimon Hounsou, who played Lucilla and Juba, respectively, in the 2000 film, are set to reprise their roles in the sequel. Barry Keoghan and Derek Jacobi will also join the cast.

The original 2000 film follows the story of Maximus, a betrayed Roman general who rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena after being sold into slavery to avenge the murder of his family and the betrayal by the corrupt emperor Commodus.

Gladiator II is slated to hit theatres this year on November 22.