London, Nov 2 (IANS): British filmmaker Ridley Scott has begun working on a sequel to the "Gladiator", the year 2000 film which garnered 11 Oscar nominations and five wins including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe.

According to deadline.com, Scott is set to take on the project for Paramount Pictures with a script to be written by Peter Craig, whose credits include "The Town" and the forthcoming sequel "Top Gun: Maverick".

The story will reportedly focus on Lucius, the son of Lucilla, played by Connie Nielsen in the 2000 original. Lucius was also the nephew of Emperor Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who killed Russell Crowe's Maximus at the end of the film.

Last year, Scott said the script was "on the shelf".

After 2012's "Prometheus", Scott made his second prequel to Alien last year before telling the story of the Getty kidnapping in All the Money in the World.

He is currently directing his first TV series, "Raised by Wolves", a sci-fi tale of androids raising human children. He is also attached to a drama about the life of photojournalist Lyndsey Addario, played by Scarlett Johansson.