The two will team up once again for the film Dog Stars, which will be directed by Scott for 20th Century Studios, with Mescal currently in negotiations to take on a leading role.

The script for Dog Stars is adapted by Mark L. Smith from the post-apocalyptic thriller novel by Peter Heller. The plot centers around a pilot living in isolation at an abandoned Colorado airbase with his dog and a tough former Marine. Set in a near future where a nameless pandemic has ravaged American society, the two unlikely companions depend on each other to fend off intruders. When a mysterious broadcast comes through the aircraft’s radio, it sparks a glimmer of hope in the pilot for a better life beyond their restricted perimeter. Taking a risk, he decides to fly beyond the point of no return in search of this new possibility.

Paul Mescal, who plays the gladiator Lucius in Gladiator 2, praised Ridley Scott in a recent interview with Variety during the film’s Tokyo premiere. He mentioned, “There is no better director who understands how to captivate the audience like Ridley Scott.” Scott reciprocated the admiration in a New York Times interview, stating, “Paul is incredibly smart, so all he needs is to overcome what I’m going to challenge him with. When I brought him onto the Rome set in Malta, I told him, ‘You’ll get over this in two hours. This is all for you, this is all for me. Let’s make it happen together.’ That was it. Part of my job is to make it enjoyable.”