The film version of Spartacus is something that I saw when I was about 10 years old when my Dad got the double vhs set (My Dad is the reason I was able to see so many classics at such a young age. He’s awesome.) I dug it a lot, and picked up the Blu-ray some time ago to revisit this still great movie.
Starz put out a tv series that was more inspired by 300 than anything about Spartacus called Spartacus: Blood And Sand back in January 2010. I didn’t know much about it, but I made a blind buy out of the dvd set when Target had it for 15 bucks, and was pleasantly surprised by the top shelf acting, and sleazy atmosphere coupled with cool comic book looking CGI gore.
This was followed by star Andy Whitfield’s battle with cancer that he sadly lost, and a 6 episode prequel series called Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena that was released instead of the second season, because they wanted to wait for Whitfield to recover. The show recast the role (Liam McIntyre took over the role), with his blessing, and we got the second season, Spartacus: Vengeance (I don’t have cable, so I generally wait for dvd, but I’ve heard good things about the second season.)
Now its been revealed that the upcoming third season, titled Spartacus: War Of The Damned will be its last.
The source article is quick to point out it’s not being cancelled, but that it’s ending has been planned.
Here’s a quote from the creator, Steven S. DeKnight.
“Yet, in the end, the story was best served by rolling all of the remaining action and drama of Spartacus’ journey into one stunningly epic season that will be extremely satisfying for everyone who’s been along for the ride.”
I’m glad that they’re choosing to end it on their terms. It’s always best to have the ending of a show preplanned so that a satisfying conclusion can be put together. Instead of a show simply ending, or worse, ending on a cliffhanger (I’m looking at you FOX! Cancelling so many shows like Strange Luck, VR5, and Brimstone which had cliffhanger endings at the end of their first season.) and then the show disappears.
Look for the final season to start airing January 2013.
source: Deadline
2 comments
I’m not a follower of the show, but its not surprising to hear that its only going to span three (technically four) seasons total. Historically speaking, Spartacus’ campaign of rebellion against Rome didn’t last all that long, so the show runners would likely be hard pressed to come up with enough material to go more than what they already have planned.
It sounds, from that quote, that maybe they were going to go with a season 4 at one point. I hope that this truly is a creative decision and that Spartacus goes out with a bang. It’s been a great entertaining ride so far.
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