Paul Mescal Sings in ‘Gladiator II,’ the Musical

Saturday Night Live guest host and Gladiator II star Paul Mescal reimagined his role in that historical drama film as a gladiator who sings about how misunderstood he is.

An extra 50 minutes of songs were added to the movie after a series of “rushed reshoots” spurred by the box office performances of Wicked and Moana II, the voiceover stated.

After Kenan Thompson sang how “there’s no place like Rome,” Mescal took over:

They look at me and all they see is a killing machine
but they don’t know that far below I’m so much more than I seem
they call me gladiator they call me slave
they call me a killer but someday they’ll know my name

I’m gonna stab my way to freedom
cut my way to the next act
while I’m in the colosseum when I go on the attack
someday they’ll know my name

In the trailer, the film’s director, Ridley Scott, is quoted as saying, “I was not told about this.” That includes the Roman emperor (Mikey Day) performing a rap written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

“I don’t mean to be a hater, but I don’t like this gladiator,” he sang. “So say goodbye to this clown, because my thumb is going down.”

Mescal eventually took off from the Colosseum via broom.

The trailer also included a song created for the “Beautiful Wife Back Home” (Jane Wickline), who stands on the edge of her farm holding her baby son and has high hopes after seeing army men approaching her house with torches.

“Well I bet they’re good friends with my husband, I have a good feeling about th–” she sings, before the shot cuts abruptly to her bloodied body on the ground.