The more outrageous version of a Gladiator sequel came from writer/musician Nick Cave, who dreamed up a long and winding road through reincarnation that would see Russell Crowe’s Roman general fight through the many wars of humanity up to the present day.
While the idea was worked out between Cave, Crowe, and Ridley Scott, this far-out draft never made it into further phases of development.
Which is something else that has been known to happen in the storied history of these in-between years, as the two concepts for a follow-up have involved very different, but very exciting tactics.
It’s a bit of a paradox to want to create a franchise out of a movie like Gladiator, as without a plausible reason to bring back Maximus, you need to think a bit outside of the box to progress the story.