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Spartacus: Gods of the Arena - a prequel to Blood & Sand - Fridays on Starz

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C

Cornballer

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Spartacus: Gods of the Arena is a 6-part prequel to the Blood & Sand series which will premiere Friday, January 21st on Starz. The miniseries gives us a look at the life of young Batiatus and a number of characters we know including Lucretia, Oenomaus, Ashur, and Barca. While Spartacus B&S started off rough with a few clunky episodes, it quickly developed into one of the more entertaining shows on television during it's 13-episode S1. Here's hoping there's more in store from the prequel.

With Andy Whitfield battling non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the prequel was conceived by the producers as a way to get some new material on the air before shooting Season 2 of B&S. Unfortunately, Whitfield has since dropped from the production of B&S due to his condition, and they haven't cast a new Spartacus yet. All the best to Whitfield and here's hoping for a full recovery.

Plot Summary from Starz said:
The House of Batiatus is on the rise, basking in the glow of its infamous champion Gannicus, whose skill with a sword is matched only by his thirst for wine and women. These are the times a young Batiatus has been waiting for. Poised to overthrow his father and take control, he’ll freely betray anyone to ensure his gladiators are in the highest demand. And he’ll have his loyal and calculating wife Lucretia by his side for every underhanded scheme, drawing on the brazen talents of her seductive friend Gaia when it counts. Together, they will stop at nothing to deceive the masses, seize power, and bleed Capua dry in this audacious prequel to “Spartacus: Blood and Sand.”

Premiering, January 21 “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena,” the highly anticipated prequel to “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” tells the story of the original Champion of the House of Batiatus. Joining returning stars, John Hannah (The Mummy, Four Weddings and A Funeral) as Batiatus, Lucy Lawless ("Xena: Warrior Princess") as Lucretia and Peter Mensah (300, The Incredible Hulk) as Oenomaus, will be additional cast members Dustin Clare (“Underbelly”) as Gannicus, Jaime Murray (“Hu$tle”) as Gaia and Marisa Ramirez (“General Hospital”) as Melitta.
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Links:
- Wikipedia
- Starz Website
- IMDB
- TV.com

Schedule
Code: 
[b]Ep	Title				Date[/b]
1 	"Past Transgressions" 		January 21, 2011
2 	"Mission" 			January 28, 2011
3 	"Paterfamilias" 		February 4, 2011 
4 	"Beneath the Mask"		February 11, 2011
5 	"Reckoning"			February 18, 2011
6 	"The Bitter End"		February 25, 2011
Episode 1 Logline:
Past Transgressions

Once young Batiatus finally gets the control of his father's gladiator school, he immediately begins to plot to make a profitable business out of his ludus. In order to succeed, he puts his most skilled fighter into good use to gain the favour of a rich and cunning nobleman who can help fund the building of a new arena.
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Videos
- Trailer
- Gladiator Camp
- In Production
- Behind the Scenes
- The Weapons
- The Gladiators
- The Slaves
- The Women

A few notes:
- This is a six part mini-series
- Word on the internet is that this will be available for Instant Watch on Netflix when it airs on Starz, but I haven't seen any official confirmation yet.
- I haven't seen any recent updates on Andy Whitfield's condition, but please post something if you see any new information.
 
O

Opus Angelorum

Member
28th December 2010 - Andy had decided to step aside from the series and retreated entirely from the public eye to concentrate on his recovery and spend as much time as possible with wife Vashti, a life coach, and two young children, a son Jesse, 6, and a three-year-old daughter.

He has said nothing of his illness since his relapse.
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From his official facebook fan page.
 
K

Krauser Kat

Member
even without spartacus, im still all for this show. Good stupid fun, like reading a Heavy Metal comic every week. so awesome.
 
H

hermit7

Member
Hope Andy gets better.

Season One was fantastic will watch this one as well. As long as it is on Netflix.

I see Ilythia is not in GotA, hope they make season 2 so she can be in it.
 
P

Paznos

Member
Finished the first season recently and wow loved it, sucks about Andy though :( but since will be nice to have in the meantime.
 
The Elite

The Elite

BOSS
Firaeus said:
Yea...whenever i think of the show i think of Andy...he's damn-near irreplaceable as Spartacus.
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I really didn't like him in those first couple of episodes. He won me over though.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Spartacus news out of the TCA panel today:
Spartacus lives! Exclusive: Starz to move forward on second season
by James Hibberd

Those wondering about the future of Starz’ Spartacus can breathe a big sigh of relief: The network is set to confirm at TCA press tour that it will continue the breakout hit despite the loss of star Andy Whitfield.

Sources close to the production say Spartacus season two will start shooting this spring, with an eye toward a 2012 premiere.

Which, of course, raises a big question: Who’s Spartacus?

Though Starz has not yet crowned a new slave revolt king to lead the series, producers are confident that the rapidly narrowing field of candidates contains a new star.

Though there’s been plenty of suspense over the fate of the series since Whitfield left the show to resume treatment for cancer, moving forward makes plenty of sense. The first season of Spartacus gained viewers nearly every week last year to become Starz’ first hit title. Though Whitfield was terrific in the lead, he was backed by a strong supporting cast. Plus the show grabbed plenty of viewers by virtue of its unique visual style and aggressive R-rated content.

In other words: There was a lot going for Spartacus aside from just Spartacus.

Starz will get an idea of how the show fares without Whitfield when its prequel, Gods of the Arena, debuts Friday, Jan. 21.
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LQX

LQX

Member
Fell in love with this series by the end. The blood in some instances was cheesy but I loved how gruesome this show was. Shame about the main actor. Hope he recovers soon.

Also if this was on HBO or maybe even Showtime it would be getting a lot more recognition I think.
 
M

markatisu

Member
LQX said:
Also if this was on HBO or maybe even Showtime it would be getting a lot more recognition I think.
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It already gets loads, its not a sleeper hit now by any means. When the season set came out it ranked in the Top 5 for quite some time.
 
S

soundahfekz

Member
I just got into this series last week, finished all 13 episodes, came into this thread only to find out that Spartacus will be replaced. Damn, that's kinda disappointing and sucks for the guy as he did a great job in that role.
 
N

Noshino

Member
soundahfekz said:
I just got into this series last week, finished all 13 episodes, came into this thread only to find out that Spartacus will be replaced. Damn, that's kinda disappointing and sucks for the guy as he did a great job in that role.
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To be fair, they did wait quite a long time for Whitfield, they have been very very kind when it came to this issue, and Im glad that they actually decided to recast and continue, otherwise it would have been a huge emotional blow for Andy to have to decide between his health and the jobs of the production team. Glad to see that they still working with him though, iirc he was also involved on the recasting.

But anyway, those hoping for Andy to come back...better stop, he isn't coming back, period

After the "Spartacus" press conference, writer/executive producer Steven S. DeKnight said Whitfield is keeping his medical condition private but said he's "fighting the good fight" and in good spirits. DeKnight said there's no chance that Whitfield will return to the role because it will be at least a year before Whitfield knows what his medical prognosis is.
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http://communityvoices.sites.post-g...in-journal/26924-press-tour-spartacus-returns

Oh, and Liam MacIntyre seems to be the one taking over the role for S2

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P

PhoenixDark

Banned
Gotta say I dismissed this show as a 300 rip off, and didn't give it a chance until a couple weeks ago. Sure it's trashy and has some bad writing and effects at times...but holy shit it was entertaining as hell. The last few episodes were amazing. Only thing I kinda worry about

is whether the show jumped the shark by killing off Batiatus and Lucretia; John Hannah was really the grounding force for the show to me.
 
N

Noshino

Member
PhoenixDark said:
Gotta say I dismissed this show as a 300 rip off, and didn't give it a chance until a couple weeks ago. Sure it's trashy and has some bad writing and effects at times...but holy shit it was entertaining as hell. The last few episodes were amazing. Only thing I kinda worry about

is whether the show jumped the shark by killing off Batiatus and Lucretia; John Hannah was really the grounding force for the show to me.
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uh...
Lucretia is back next season, as for Batiatus, not so much...
:lol


Gunloc said:
He hasn't been (officially) announced yet, but he is the front runner once again.

He's currently bulking up to train for the role.
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That's why I said "seems to be" :lol But yah, hopefully he does as well as Andy.
 
S

squicken

Member
Can't fucking wait! Glad they are going to do S2, and I hope Andy gets better.

Obviously there are no losers in this battle, but Katrina Law > Viva Bianca
 
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