Russell Crowe will not return to the Coliseum in the highly anticipated sequel to Gladiator – but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

As legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott tells PEOPLE, the New Zealand star, who won the 2001 Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the first film, was eager to participate in some way Gladiator II despite the death of his character Maximus at the end of the original.

“Russell and I tried it about 18 years ago,” recalls 86-year-old Scott. “I had Nick Cave write the script and I kept saying (to Russell), ‘But you’re dead.’ And he said, ‘I know I’m dead and I want to come back from the dead.'”

In GladiatorCrowe’s Maximus, a former Roman general who found himself fighting for his life in the Colosseum, dies from wounds sustained after the assassination of Roman Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). The new film centers on Lucius (Paul Mescal), the son of Maximus, who is also enslaved to become a gladiator. (Lucius was played by Spencer Treat Clark as a child in the first film.)

Scott says he tried to figure out a way to incorporate Maximus into the sequel via a “portal to bring him back from the dead.” “The only way to do this was to go to another battle and through a dying warrior he comes back into the warrior’s mind,” Scott recalls. “So that’s his portal.”

When presented with the concept, Scott said Crowe rejected it because it would require casting another actor in the reincarnated role. “He said, ‘So that’s not good, is it?’” Scott remembers Crowe saying. “It didn’t really work.”

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Crowe expressed feelings of FOMO after not being included in the sequel, previously telling Collider that he was “a little jealous” because, looking back, “I was obviously a much younger man, and it was a huge experience in my to live.” Crowe added that Gladiator still “holds a special place in my heart.”

The actor also said on a podcast that it was “somewhat awkward” for him since his character “is dead, and I have no say in what gets done” in future storylines: “I can’t say anything. It’s not my place . I’m six feet underground,” he said at the time.

Two original cast members reprise their roles: Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi. New cast members range from Denzel Washington to Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn.

Mescal, 28, has been open about not feeling compelled to reach out to Crowe before leading the new leadership Gladiator film. “At the end of the day, I have to be on my own with this. … You can’t rely on anyone but the script, the director and yourself,” he told Extra.

Director Scott then said, “I’ll add to that: Why would Roger Moore call Sean Connery (for a James Bond movie)? … What’s he going to do that for?”

For more information Gladiator II, get this week’s issue PEOPLEon newsstands Friday.