Following Gladiator II, director Ridley Scott and Paul Mescal are expected to work together again for a new project. This time, the re-team will see Scott direct The Dog Stars, the Mark L Smith-adapted apocalyptic thriller by Peter Heller to life.
According to Variety, Mescal is now in the advanced stages of negotiations to star in the film. Scott is said to be working with Steve Asbell and the 20th Century Studios team to bring the film to life. The plot follows a civilian who lives a lonely life on an abandoned Colorado airbase with his dog and a tough ex-Marine. The story is set in the near feature when an unnamed pandemic decimates the American population. The two men who are both mismatched in personalities must find a way to work together to fend off any invaders. However, a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna and the pilot is ignited by hope that a better life exists outside of the parameters. He risks everything to fly past the point of no return making a leap for better.
In a past interview, Mescal praised Scott for Gladiator II, "There’s no better director for focusing on an audience’s sense of entertainment than Ridley Scott." The upcoming film has not yet revealed a release date at the time of writing.