What happened to Palestinian-Egyptian actress May Calamawy's role in Gladiator II?

Countless fans of Ridley Scott’s original Oscar-sweeping epic Gladiator have been eagerly anticipating its sequel, Gladiator II, releasing November 15 in the UK and November 22 in the US.

For fans of SWANA, and particularly Palestinian and Egyptian backgrounds, the report that Palestinian-Egyptian actress May Calamawy would be in the film was one met with excitement, especially after her critically acclaimed genre role in Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight as Layla El-Faouly, AKA the Scarlet Scarab.  

When Calamawy was cast, outlets touted her role as "an important one," with initial announcements indicating she would play a major female lead.

Deadline reported that Scott had given deep consideration to her role as much as for the lead, Paul Mescal, conducting a “thorough search” with “multiple auditions” for Calamawy to land her part.  

Overall, the early reporting on the film made it seem that Calamawy would have a leading role or at least one in which her character would play a significant and indispensable part. Knowing how the Roman Empire encompassed most of North Africa and Palestine, it seemed all the more fitting. Her fans were eagerly looking forward to the film as a result.  

Unfortunately, her role wouldn’t pan out as we had anticipated.  

When the promotion began in full force, listing out the main cast, trotting out images, and releasing trailers, Calamawy was virtually nowhere to be found. Complete cast lists still included her name, but nothing indicated she would have any significant role.

Still, fans held out hope that Scott would surprise us with some sort of pivotal role for her in the film, perhaps helping out Mescal’s Lucius in a tight spot or something of the like.  

Having seen Gladiator II, which debuted to somewhat middling reviews, we at The New Arab can confirm that she has a non-speaking, background role in a few scenes as a companion of Denzel Washington’s Macrinus.  

Suffice to say, it was a sad confirmation of what many feared, particularly this past year when Hollywood has systemically silenced or attempted to silence Palestinian and pro-Palestinian artists — most infamously Spyglass’ firing of Melissa Barrera for her standing up for Palestinians during the start of the genocide. 

It remains unclear, however, if Scott and distributor Paramount Pictures actually reduced Calamawy’s role over her pro-Palestine advocacy, or whether this was all her role actually encompassed. 

Paramount in particular has encountered its own controversies with vocal support for Israel, and none for Palestinians.

Outgoing owner, Shari Redstone, lambasted CBS News for reprimanding host Tony Dokoupil for his questioning (which his colleagues as described “racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic”) of guest Ta-Nehisi Coates on his new book The Message, which details Coates’ time in Occupied Palestine.  

The incoming owners of Paramount, Skydance, have their own taint of anti-Palestinianism, with owner David Ellison expressing support and donating only to Israelis, while his father Larry Ellison (who may have some, albeit limited, role in running Paramount) has been a longtime supporter of Israel, reportedly funding illegal Israeli settlements. 

While thankfully this overarching structure didn’t affect Calamawy’s initial casting in Gladiator II, it could be possible that the current onslaught on Palestine and pro-Palestine advocates affected it later on.  

Filming for Gladiator II began in May 2023, with the suspension of filming due to the SAG-AFTRA strike from July 2023 to December 2023, and concluding in January 2024 after the strike. Thus, filming concluded in the last few months of the strike, also when Israeli’s genocide on Gaza began, along with the more pronounced crackdown on actors speaking up for Palestine.  

Could the studio have edited out Calamawy in post-production due to her activism and calls for a ceasefire?  

Hanna Flint, who reviewed the film, believes the reason for her diminished role may have simply been logistical, with perhaps some misinterpretation in the first place of how large her role would be.

"I would have obviously liked to have seen May in a bigger role given the Maghrebi/Mediterranean setting, but it may have been as simple her getting booked for a small role in the film prior to her blowing up in Moon Knight," Hanna told The New Arab.  

Regardless of the reasoning for her small role that outlets had initially touted as being significant, the timing of fan excitement for her casting in a major franchise, only to see her briefly in the background, during the ongoing genocide, remains a deeply unfortunate look.

Ultimately, Calamawy’s diminished role in Gladiator II is emblematic of why many actors remain reticent of speaking out against injustice, even as grave as we see in Palestine, for what it could mean for their Hollywood careers.

That does not, however, stop the many who do continue to speak out. 

At the time of this piece, Calamawy’s team has not responded to our inquiries on her role in Gladiator II. 

Swara Salih is a writer and podcaster who writes for several outlets, including The Nerds of Color, But Why Tho?, and Nerdist. He co-hosts The Middle Geeks podcast, which covers all things SWANA/MENA representation.

Follow him on BlueSky:@spiderswarz.bsky.social