After wowing audiences with his sword-swinging battles of past years, Russell Crowe may be asked to don his sandals once more in a prequel to Gladiator.

The producers of the Oscar-winning Roman epic are currently in talks and are keen to bring Russell back for second instalment.

Producer Doug Wick says the follow-up is "certainly something being discussed, but there's been no decision made. We're looking at lots of options. Russell has a lot of voltage on screen."

He says, "You don't finally do something like that unless you have a dazzling story to tell. What we certainly won't do is some shadow of the first one to grind out a few bucks."