If you’ve been a fan of Starz’ massive Spartacus series from the beginning, one thing you may be is confused as to the order of events that took place during the various incarnations of the series. Or, you just may want to see everything in the order it was intended and follow along as the characters and situations develop.

Whatever your wishes, Starz seems to have them covered with its just announced plan to run every episode of Spartacus, in chronological order, as one epic viewing event.

Here’s more from the official Starz press release:

For the first time, Starz will air all 29 episodes of Spartacus in chronological order, beginning with “Gods of the Arena,” then “Blood and Sand,” and concluding with “Vengeance,” Friday nights from 9pm – 11pm ET/PT, beginning June 8th.

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With things firmly in turmoil after the end of season two, Starz original series Spartacus has already started production on season three. With that usually comes news of cast additions and that’s exactly what we have for you today.

According to Starz, Anna Hutchison, Jenna Lind and Gwendoline Taylor have been added to the cast of series, now filming season three in New Zealand. Hutchison will play Laeta, the privileged wife of a Roman dignitary who becomes entangled in the struggle against Spartacus. Her life and those of the ones she loves are forever changed by the conflict.

Lind will play Kore, a loyal slave to Marcus Crassus (Simon Merrells), the Roman tasked to bring an end to Spartacus and his rebellion. Her deep feelings for her master will be sorely tested by spiraling events.

Taylor will play Sibyl, a beautiful young slave rescued from Roman cruelty. Now free, she will embark on a journey that will touch the lives of key leaders in the rebellion.

They all look line fine additions to the cast, which up until now has had no shortage of beautiful women. Season three, which debuts on Starz later this year, looks like it will carry on that tradition.

Next week sees the return of Spartacus, the Starz original series chronicling the life of the titular slave who rebelled against his Roman oppressors. The show’s official second season, called Spartacus: Vengeance, has been long in coming, and brings with it many questions in the wake of the tragic death of the first seasons’ star, Andy Whitfield.

The Flickcast recently partook in a discussion with series creator/exec. producer Steven S. DeKnight where, among other things, he talked about the transition from his original star to new Spartacus Liam McIntyre (check out our interview with the actor here), where the show is going from here and working with Joss Whedon.

On Liam capturing the essence of Andy Whitfield’s Spartacus -

…that’s really what drew us to Liam is that we didn’t want to try to duplicate (Andy). I mean, that will never happen. He was such a singular, amazing talent. But we wanted to find somebody that had the same base qualities of compassion. And I told all the actors when they auditioned that even though Spartacus may fly into a rage now and then, he never comes from a place of anger, it’s always from a place of a wounded heart. And we really felt like Liam captured that essence.

On no character being safe on the show - 

…on this show characters literally get the ax. I think really ultimately for me it’s always – it comes from the story is how is the story best served by a character death. I don’t ever want somebody to just die. It needs to have ramifications either emotionally or towards the plot. So that’s always the number one driving force of – on who do I kill.

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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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Some of the biggest controversy in TV over the past few years also happens to be tied to one of the best shows we’ve seen on American TV in a while. That controversy surrounds the STARZ original series Spartacus. The first season, titled Blood and Sand, was one of the cable networks highest rated series of all time, so it was natural that it would get a second season.

Due to the main star, Andy Whitfield, getting diagnosed with cancer, the show went on hiatus, and then continued on with a prequel season without Whitfield. Sadly, the star passed away earlier this year, leaving the showrunner, Steven S. DeKnight, without a star, and a network looking to continue the franchise.

Reluctantly, they recast their Spartacus, and the team planned out Spartacus: Vengeance, which will continue in the Spartacus universe. It looks like the network is now ready for the show’s January premiere. From Deadline:

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Writer Steven S. DeKnight has got more than enough geek cred to bring any doubtful idea to a new level of excellence even when most other writers would choke under the pressure.

The man has worked with Joss Whedon in the Buffyverse and Angelverse, taken on young Superman in Smallville, and now he’s getting his blood and iron on with Spartacus.

Season 2 is starting up soon and Steven gives us some insight on how exactly they can pick up after the epic season 1 finale, and how difficult it was switching from Andy Whitfield to new star Liam McIntyre.

Another thing DeKnight touched on was a franchise he has yet to work with The Flash. He once proposed a series to WB in which we follow a young Flash in high school, and now Steven thinks this is a perfect time to get the project off the ground.

See what he had to say and more after the jump.

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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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During the panel at Comic-Con in San Diego Starz presented info on the second season of it’s flagship drama Spartacus. Among the info released at the panel were the fact that previous Spartacus star Andy Whitfield is “doing very well.”

The panel also introduced Whitfield’s replacement, actor Liam McIntyre who called succeeding Whitfield “a really nice challenge… a great privilege and a great honor… a great responsibility.” Big sandals to fill indeed.

Regarding the plan for the new season, according to the panel and Exec. Producer Steven S. DeKnight: “There’s an episode where we kill a lot of people. This season is just epic. It’s grand scale… It’s just a gigantic, gigantic season.” Also, a power struggle is about to emerge between Spartacus, Crixus and Gannicus, which should prove interesting to say the least.

Check out the video after the jump. Spartacus: Vengeance premieres on Starz later this year.

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One of the most fun things about comic to Comic-Con in San Diego is the amount of people who dress up in their favorite costumes and their favorite character from movies, TV, comics, games, manga or you name it. It’s a highlight of the week to see all the great, and not so great, costumes that people come up with to enhance their Con experience.

To help showcase a few of those people who spent their tame and money to dress up so you and the rest of the attendees could have their day brightened a little bit more, we’ve got the first of our galleries from the show.

In this one we’ve got a mix of general photos, costumes, booths and more. We hope it gives you a feel for what the Con is like.

Expect more coverage of all the festivities and, of course, a lot more pics and video as Comic-Con continues. As they say in Hollywood, we’ll be here all week.

Click through for all the pics.

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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.

It’s no mystery that we here at The Flickcast offices are huge fans of the Starz original series, Spartacus. Having followed the original season, Blood and Sand, as well as keeping tabs on titular character actor Andy Whitfield’s ongoing battle with a recurrence of cancer, we eagerly awaited the dynamic show’s return for its second season. Well, it’s almost here, as the 2nd season, in prequel form, is set to air on Starz January 21st at 10PM EST/PST, so be sure to set your DVR.

The events of the prequel to Blood and Sand occur 5 years prior and was filmed last year without Whitfield. With only a shortened six-episode season, Gods of the Arena tells the story of the original Champion of the House of Batiatus, Gannicus whose skill with a sword is matched only by his thirst for wine and women. Check out the full official synopsis of the new season after the jump.

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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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