Spartacus: Blood and Sand was one of the most interesting and fun to watch shows to appear on TV in a long time. It’s combo ob blood, gore, sex, action and swordplay made it a big hit for Starz and a star of Andy Whitfield.

Sadly, Andy Whitfield was not able to continue with the series and passed away due to his illness. However, as they say in Hollywood: “The show must go on.” And it is with new Spactacus Liam McIntyre who, at first glance, slightly resembles Whitfield and also looks to be a worthy successor to him.

The upcoming second (we don’t count the prequel) season, titled Spartacus: Vengeance, takes place right after the events of the first season of Spartacus and tells the continuing story of the slave revolt and its ramifications throughout Rome. To get you ready for the new season, we’ve got a preview of the first minutes of the premiere episode with an introduction by Spartacus himself. Looks good. We’ll be watching.

Check out the video after the break. Spartacus: Vengeance premieres on Starz on Friday, January 27.

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With their new show Boss already off to a strong start and with previous hits like Spartacus: Blood and Sand, it looks like Starz is trying to find success again with another original dramatic series. This time around instead of modern day Chicago and Kelsey Grammer or ancient Rome and the late, great Andy Whitfield, we get 1959 Miami and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Magic City.

Not that we’re complaining. In fact, the show looks pretty good, judging from the trailer for it released today. Although, if you have Starz (as some of here at The Flickcast do) you’ve already seen this promo.

Seen it or not, you can check it out and realize, as we have, Starz is hear to stay in the dramatic series department. In addition to Morgan starring as a Miami hotelier and family man with ties to the mob, the series also features Olga Kurylenko as his wife and Danny Huston as a mob boss.

The series premieres in the spring. In the meantime, check out the trailer after the break.

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While still remaining to be an excellent show, Starz’ Spartacus: Blood and Sand has gone through some pretty rough times. They originally lost their star Andy Whitfield due to illness, which prompted creator Steven S. DeKnight to write a prequel season in which Whitfield was not needed. Then Whitfield bounced back and forth about being able to return, but ultimately had to decline due to uncertainty.

Normally, a major recasting is not something a studio nor producers would want to go through, as an actor like Whitfield carried the show, but the fans demanded more of the show, so they went forward with the recasting. That brought Australian actor Liam McIntyre to the top of the pile.

While having no major roles in the past, McIntyre had the look of Spartacus down, and it didn’t hurt that he looked a bit like Whitfield, either.

We got the chance to speak with McIntyre about filling these pretty big sandals, what it was like working with an already-established crew, and getting into shape using the famed “celeb boot camp” that just about every action star have had to use in order to whip into shape for a role.

Check out our interview, and if you haven’t seen any of the upcoming season of Spartacus, check out the full trailer here.

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With all the hype and press surrounding big budget studio films, we need to keep in mind the smaller films that don’t have the marketing budget but also need coverage too. This time around that smaller film is director Jon Hewitt’s X.

The film, which tells the story of Holly Rowe, a callgirl on her last night on the job who’s just looking to finish up and get out of the business. Naturally, things don’t go as she planned when she encounters Shay Ryan, a teenage runaway, broke and alone, who just has to get through her first night as a hooker.

Fate throws them together on a job that goes horribly wrong and they’re trapped on an out-of-control roller coaster ride, through the twilight zone of sex-for-sale. Funny, I don’t remember seeing that ride at Disneyland last time I was there. Oh well.

The film stars the terrific Viva Bianca of Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Hanna Mangan-Lawrence, who was in the director’s previous film, Acolytes. IFC has sent us a trailer for the film and we are, of course, going to share it with you right here.

Take a look after the jump. X debuts in select theaters today and then on demand from IFC Midnight, via Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner, and Bright House starting April 13th.

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Even though the show just wasn’t the same without Andy Whitfield as Spartacus (although he did make a small cameo) that didn’t stop Spartacus: Gods of the Arena from debuting to impressive numbers last Friday night on Starz. The premiere episode of SGOTA had over 1.1 million viewers for its first run at 10 PM, 66% higher than the original series’ premiere a year ago.

In addition, the show had 1.9 million viewers combined for the 10 PM and 11 PM showings, 77% above the debut of the original series. Yes, that’s a lot of people indeed.

I’m guessing audiences were probably just hungry for more awesome gladiator action and to learn the story of the rise of the House of Batiatus. Even though, if you’ve seen the original series, you know how it all turns out for many of the characters, it was still fun to watch their first appearances and see how it all comes together.

It was especially interesting to see how Batiatus himself (John Hannah) began as quite a different person and how he will evolve into the evil man he is later in the series. In some ways its too bad this series will only be six episodes.

Although, in the end, that’s probably just enough to get us ready for season two of the original series, which is returning next year with a new actor (Liam McIntyre) taking on the role of Spartacus.

This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt stumble about and try not to embarrass themselves too much. They also manages to talk about a whole bunch of new and returning topics as they often do.

Some of these topics include the Golden Globes, new pics from The First Avenger and Spider-Man, Steve Jobs taking a leave of absence from Apple, the box office success of The Green Hornet, Spartacus: Blood and Sand casting news, Anne Bancroft’s career and more.

They also made some new picks this week including Matt’s double pick of The Last Exorcism and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead as well as Chris’ pick of the classic drama Network.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook or via email.

If you’re a fan of the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand you are no doubt aware that series star Andy Whitfield has been battling illness for some time. Recently, the network decided to find someone else to take on the titular role in the series once Whitfield’s return was not possible. Then began a search for the actor who would would be the new Spartacus, which recently was down to three.

According to the network, that search has now ended. Australian actor Liam McIntyre has been named the new star of the series. According to the report, Starz executives liked his acting abilities but he was told to bulk up to look more like a gladiator.

About the casting, Starz had this to say: “(McIntyre) has excelled at a grueling and rigorous audition process to claim the title role in the second season” of Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The series’ prequel, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, debuts on Friday.

Click through for the official release from Starz. We wish McIntyre luck but also recognize he has some pretty big, um, shoes to fill.

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As we’ve all found out by now, Andy Whitfield won’t be retuning to season 2 of Spartacus: Blood and Sand due to illness. In addition, the search for an actor to replace him is going in and we expect to get that news pretty soon.

Until then, Starz has gone ahead and made a prequel series to Spartacus: Blood and Sand called Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which we have the first trailer for today. The new series features some of the actors from the original show, including John Hannah (Quintus Batiatus), Lucy Lawless (Lucretia) and Peter Mensah (Doctore), but tells the story of the beginnings of the Batiatus household.

For more, here’s the official synopsis from Starz:

As the prequel begins, Quintus Batiatus is the acting Lanista while his father Titus is on an extended visit to Sicilia. But Batiatus isn’t satisfied with just the thought of taking over the Ludus one day; he aspires to political power and prestige in Capua, and perhaps beyond. In the class-conscious world of ancient Rome, the House of Batiatus must first earn the respect of both politicians and socialites before being granted the right for its gladiators to fight in the much-revered championship bouts called the Primus. Batiatus must not only survive the harsh politics of Capua, but also compel his hedonistic fighter, Gannicus, to embrace being a champion gladiator who will bring esteem and respect to the House of Batiatus.

No, this isn’t exactly the Spartacus we’ve come to know and love, but it still looks pretty fun. We’re going to give it a chance. Check out the trailer after the jump. Spartacus: Gods of the Arena premieres January 21 at 10/9C on Starz.

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With Andy Whitfield not able to return to Spartacus: Blood and Sand for season two, inevitably the show must go on as it does in Hollywood. So, that means the show’s producers need to find a new leading man to take over the title role. According to Deadline, the search for that leading man has come down to three actors.

Those three actors are: Stephen Amell, Aiden Turner and Liam McIntyre. According to the report, the three have been flown to New Zealand for screen tests and to meet with the show’s cast and crew. A final decision on who will be the next Spartacus is expected as early as this week.

In case you haven’t hear these names before, don’t feel bad. Like Whitfield, Amell (Closing the Ring), Turner (All My Children) and McIntyre (The Pacific) are relatively unknown. They do, however, all seem to have the requisite looks and physicality for the role. Still, in my mind and I’m sure the minds of many other fans, it will be very hard for any actor to replace Whitfield in a role he created and filled so very well.

That said, I’m sure the show’s producers would rather, if given the choice, not have to be facing this decision at all. I’m sure they would prefer to have Whitfield instead, as would we all. Hopefully, any actoir who takes his place will only be doing it for the short term and he will be able to return someday soon and play Spartacus, and many other roles, again.

The Spartacus prequel series, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, is slated to premiere in January. Season Two of Spartacus: Blood and Sand is expected to begin filming soon with a projected Summer 2011 return.

Sad news indeed as it seems Spartacus: Blood and Sand star Andy Whitfield won’t be able to return to the show for its second season due to health complications. According to Starz, the network which produces the show, the actor’s doctors have advised him to stop training for season two of the series and seek immediate, aggressive treatment for his illness.

The actor was first diagnosed with treatable Stage 1 non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in early March but had been in remission. He was even at Comic-Con in San Diego where we spoke to him and he seemed perfectly healthy and in good spirits, ready to begin season 2 of the series.

Starz is currently in production on a prequel series called Spartacus: Gods of the Arena which it plans to air in January and then was to begin production on season 2 of the main series following that for a planned return in mid 2011. Obviously, with this news on Whitfield’s condition, things have changed.

As fans of Whitfield and the show we are saddened to hear of his condition, We wish him all the best for a full and speedy recovery.

Click through to read the full press release from Starz.

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As TV series go, Spartacus: Blood and Sand ranks very high. No, not just because of the action, blood and naked flesh — although that doesn’t hurt. It’s because of the characters.

As the Blu-ray release of the series approaches, we’ve been showing you some highlights of it to get you ready. Today is no exception.

This time you’ll get a chance to know the men and women of the show a bit better. And really, who wouldn’t want to do that? Amiright?

The heroic four-disc DVD and Blu-ray hits on September 21st. Until then, check out the men and women of Spartacus: Blood and Sand after the jump.

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Okay, who’s a fan of epic series chronicling the exploits of a slave who rises to godlike stature due mostly to his skill at slicing and dicing opponents in an arena? Or, how about a show featuring amazing action, terrific performances and enough naked flesh to satisfy even the most prurient among you? If you don’t know what show I’m talking about then by all means you need to  read on.

The show is, of course, Starz epic series Spartacus: Blood and Sand which debuted to much fanfare and has risen to cult status almost over night. The show is truly unique and serves as a reminder of what talented an determined creative people can do if given the freedom to do it.

The first season of the show is coming to Blu-ray (The only way to watch it, btw) and we’ve got two more trailers to share with you today. Both give you a great idea of how amazing this show really is. Hopefully, we’ll get more new episodes soon. Until then, the first season Blu-ray will have to suffice.

Check out the trailers after the jump. Spartacus: Blood and Sand season one hits Blu-ray and DVD on September 21st.

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