In 2006, Scott stated he and Crowe approached Nick Cave to rewrite the film, but their ideas conflicted with DreamWorks's idea of a spin-off involving Lucius, whom Scott revealed would turn out to be Maximus's son with Lucilla. Scott noted that a tale of corruption in Rome was too complex, whereas "Gladiator" worked due to its simple drive. In 2009, details of Cave's ultimately-rejected script, titled "Christ Killer", surfaced on the internet, which Cave described as a "deities vs. deity vs. humankind" story. The script would have opened with a group of dying Roman gods reincarnating Maximus, who returns to Rome to defend his son Marius and his Christian companions against the Decian persecution. The film would have concluded with Maximus defeating Roman legionaries led by an adult Lucius and becoming an immortal force of war, with a 20-minute sequence of Maximus fighting in the Crusades, World War II, and the Vietnam War before ending up working at the modern-day Pentagon. In March 2017, Scott again stated that he has an idea of how a sequel could be done, and that he is currently trying to convince Russell Crowe to reprise his role as Maximus.