How do you top a colosseum battle with tigers in Gladiator for the upcoming sequel? Well, director Ridley Scott has seemingly focused on an animal he particularly finds disturbing for Gladiator 2: baboons.

Speaking with The New Yorker, Scott touched on how he’s itching to start filming again for Gladiator 2 after production was stopped because of the Hollywood actors’ union strike. The filmmaker behind Alien and Black Hawk Down has apparently been looking over the 90 minutes of footage he already shot beforehand–including an action sequence where the hero faces off against a troop of baboons.

Scott saw a video where the primates go after tourists in South Africa, and that has stuck with him ever since. “Baboons are carnivores,” he said. “Can you hang from that roof for two hours by your left leg? No! A baboon can.”

Presumably, the hero in this battle is star Paul Mescal, who’s portraying Lucius, son of Lucilla. The actor will be joined in Gladiator 2 by Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Derek Jacobi, and Connie Nielsen. Meanwhile, original Gladiator star Russell Crowe has had a funny reaction to all of the questions he’s getting about the sequel.

Back in July, TMZ got exclusive photos and videos of Gladiator 2’s colosseum set in Malta. The sequel was also reportedly going to film in London and Morocco before production was halted.

Gladiator 2 is supposed to arrive in theaters on November 22, 2024, but that could obviously change with the ongoing strike by Hollywood actors.