soaked

Paul Mescal is getting in ‘Gladiator’ shape & his sweaty workout video has flooded Twitter’s colosseum

By · Updated on January 26, 2024
Paul Mescal shirtless and working out
Image Credits: Instagram @mediaphysiques

While most of the internet frets over the whereabouts of the mini submarine that tours the Titanic wreckage, Gay Twitter™ was having its own issues catching its breath after a sweaty new workout video surfaced from Paul Mescal.

In the 23-second clip, the Irish actor is shown doing a few reps with some hand weights as his bulked up physique glows under the gym lights.

Mescal had a major breakthrough in 2020’s Normal People series and has wowed us since with his roles in The Lost Daughter and Aftersun (for which he received a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars), but this workout vid might just be his best screen work to date.

Take a look for yourself:

Now, don’t get us wrong, Mescal’s been a major crush of the internet for a few years now. The aforementioned Normal People was some seriously horny television in which the now-27-year-old actor bared his bum and then some on multiple occassions.

And then, of course, there’s the short shorts. Mescal has historically not been shy about his thighs, flashing those alabaster beauties on multiple occasions as he’s gone on some friendly neighborhood jogs, earning him the title of The King Of The Five-Inch Inseam.

But this video? This takes it to a whole new level.

Folks have tagged personal trainer Tim Blakeley—@mediaphsyiques—as the source of the clip and, while we don’t see the original post on his page, you can bet we’ll be following and keeping our eyes glued for even more Mescal gym content.

We’ve still got the thighs, yes, but now the biceps are popping, too, and so are the pecs, the lats, the delts, the abs, and pretty much every other muscle we could name if we had a human anatomy book sitting right next to us. This is a more jacked Paul Mescal than we’ve ever seen—you might even say he’s looking downright… gladiatorial.

So, yes, as has been noted, the actor is clearly training for his role in the upcoming Gladiator 2, Ridley Scott’s follow-up to his Best Picture-winning blockbuster from 2000.

Set years after the events of the first film, the sequel will find Mescal starring as a grown-up Lucius, the grandson of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, originally played by teenaged Spencer Treat Clark, who has idolized the fallen warrior Maximus (Russell Crowe) for most of his life.

Other plot details are sparse, but it’s been reported he’ll be joined by a returning Connie Nielson (and Djimon Honsou, if the rumors are true), and a supporting cast that is an embarrassment of riches, including Denzel Washington, Stranger Things‘ Joseph Quinn, The White Lotus‘ Fred Hechinger (replacing Barry Keoghan), and 2023’s Daddy Of The Year, Pedro Pascal.

Related:

Pedro Pascal joins the cast of ‘Gladiator 2,’ which just keeps getting hotter and hotter

Whoever’s casting the Gladiator sequel deserves a raise.

But even with all that eye candy on the screen, Mescal is going to make it hard to look away from him. Even though he’s already got a number of acclaimed roles under his belt, we imagine this is the project—and this is the bod—that’s going to make him a household name.

And, if what’s been going on on Gay Twitter™ this morning is any indication, everyone is more than ready for Paul Mescal’s movie star era to begin:

Gladiator 2 is currently expected to hit theaters on November 22, 2024.

Related:

It’s going to be the “Summer of the A24 Bottom” & Gay Twitter™ is ecstatic

Who wears short shorts?

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