Since his Oscar-winning breakthrough as Maximus Decimus Meridius in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, Russell Crowe has remained one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. Crowe famously did not return for the 2024 sequel Gladiator II, due to creative differences over how the story handled his character’s legacy. He not only distanced himself from the production but has been vocal in his criticisms. However, after nearly three decades, Crowe will finally return to battle the Roman Empire once more on his own terms in an all-new project that has recently shifted into high gear.
Among the series of projects the Oscar winner has lined up for the near future is the historical epic, The Last Druid. The movie will see Crowe as a peaceful Celtic leader, who must awaken the warrior within and take up arms to prevent his family from annihilation after a Roman Emperor learns of a secluded Druid stronghold in the mountains of Caledonia. The movie reunites Crowe with director William Eubank, with whom he previously worked on the thriller movie, Land of Bad. Eubank also penned the script alongside Phil Gawthorne and Carlyle Eubank.
The Last Druid has now reportedly commenced filming in Spain, and out of production comes some fresh casting updates. Among the new slate of cast revelations is Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie. Though details of her role were not revealed, Leslie should have no problems slipping back into period costume for another epic high-stakes thriller, judging by her outstanding performance as Ygritte, one of the Wildlings from the north of the Wall in HBO’s hit fantasy series. The Last Druid has also cast WWE star, Drew McIntyre, in what will mark his first major movie role alongside the upcoming Highlander reboot, which also stars Crowe. Other cast members announced for the movie are Andreas Pietschmann (Nuremberg), Stacy Clausen (Leviticus), Pablo Derqui, and Crowe’s son, Tennyson Crowe, in his second-ever acting credit.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
Which Russell Crowe Movie Is Releasing Next?
Following last year’s release of the WWII drama Nuremberg, the year has sort of begun slowly for Crowe, with the martial-arts action, Beast, his only release so far. However, things are about to amp up pretty quickly for the Oscar winner, who has a packed slate of upcoming projects. Next up is the crime thriller The Get Out, which features a packed ensemble including Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, Luke Evans, and Nina Dobrev. The movie will release in theaters for a single weekend beginning on June 26, before moving to PVOD platforms like Prime Video.
Releasing later in the fall on September 18 is The Weight, a historical drama co-starring Ethan Hawke. Crowe will also be seen in Amazon’s Highlander reboot alongside Henry Cavill, which has yet to schedule a release date but is expected soon, given Crowe recently revealed he’s wrapped filming his part. His other upcoming works in post-production, with no release date yet, are Netflix’s crime drama, Unabomber, and the star-studded spy thriller, Billion Dollar Spy.
The Last Druid has yet to set a release date. However, the film has been pre-sold in multiple international markets, with Amazon acquiring the rights for some territories. Stay tuned for future updates.
