After ten years of absence, this cult series, one of the most expensive ever produced, will make its comeback on television!
At the beginning of the 2000s, the peplum experienced renewed interest on American television thanks first to the series Rome, then with Spartacus. This fictionalized adaptation of the life of the most famous gladiator of antiquity was released in 2010 on the cable channel Starz, under the supervision of screenwriter Steven S. DeKnight (the creator of the Netflix series Daredevil).
Made up of three seasons, and a prequel entitled The Gods of the Arena, Spartacus totals 39 episodes. This series with its stylized aesthetic, which is reminiscent of Zack Snyder’s film 300, was successful thanks in particular to its uninhibited violence (and its digital sprays of blood) as well as its numerous scenes of nudity.
Two performers played Spartacus in the series. From season 2, Liam McIntyre succeeded Andy Whitfield in the main role of the program (the latter died shortly after of cancer of the lymphatic system).
Spartacus also made history by becoming one of the most expensive series ever produced at the time, with a budget of around $5 million per episode.
More than ten years after the broadcast of the last episode of the final season, the series is preparing to make its comeback via an official sequel. Announced in early 2023, the project today reveals its title: Spartacus: House of Ashur. As its title indicates, the series will focus on the former gladiator Ashur (played by Nick Tarabay).
Described in a press release provided by the Starz channel as a “erotic and exciting experience“, the series will distance itself from historical facts by following an alternative plot imagining Ashur at the head of the gladiator school formerly led by Quintus Lentulus Batiatus.
In this version, Ashur did not die during the battle on Mount Vesuvius, but was instead rewarded for his feats of arms alongside the Roman legionnaires against the slave rebellion led by Spartacus.
Consisting of ten episodes, the series Spartacus: House of Ashur will soon begin filming for an upcoming broadcast on the American channel Starz (no French broadcaster has yet been announced).