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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Let’s not forget there’s more to entertainment than what comes out of the collective Hollywood brain trust. And thank goodnesss for that or we would constantly be bombarded with movies like Battleship and endless other Transformers clones.

Fortunately, there’s more independent-minded production companies that try to make more original and edgy fare. One of those companies is Anchor Bay, and while it’s not indie in the strictest sense of the word (it’s owned by Starz), it still tries to bring some edgy and creative work to the table.

One example of this is the upcoming post-apocalyptic thriller The Collapse. In the movie, an “unknown event has catapulted civilization into a fatal downward spiral. The Weaver family — father Scott (John Fantasia), young adult son Aaron (Steve Vieira), mother Emily (Lise Moule) and teenage daughter Rebecca (Anna Ross) — desperately tries to survive.”

Check out the trailer and clips after the break. Look for The Collapsed to arrive on June 5.

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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.

We’ve brought you news of the upcoming Starz series Magic City before and now we’ve got the brand new, extended trailer for the show to share with you today. In it you get quite a bit of info on the story, characters and situations that make up this new offering from the network that brought us Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Boss.

In case you’re not familiar with Magic City, it stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Miami hotel king and family man Ike Evans who managed to get his hotel resort built and now has to deal with his mob boss partner (Danny Huston) and a whole host of other problems in 1959 Miami. Let’s just say things don’t go exactly as he planned.

In addition to Morgan and Huston, the series also features Olga Kurylenko, Kelly Lynch, Seymour Cassel and Michael Rispoli. It premieres on April 6 at 10/9C on Starz.

Check out the trailer after the break.

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After an arduous search for the actor who could play John McClane’s son in the newest installment of the Die Hard franchise, 20th Century Fox has finally settled on Jai Courtney.

Courtney is best known for playing Varro in the Starz series Spartacus: Blood And Sand. In the series, Courtney played a close friend and confidante of Spartacus until they were forced into a battle to the death. Courtney has had a bit of a big screen surge as he will next be seen starring opposite Tom Cruise in Paramount’s One Shot, the Christopher McQuarrie directed adaptation of the Lee Child bestseller. He is also attached to star opposite Aaron Eckhart in I, Frankenstein.

A Good Day To Die Hard, the fifth installment of the Die Hard franchise, puts McClane on unfamiliar ground, taking the hard-ass  New York City cop to the streets of Moscow. The flick introduces McClane’s estranged son Jack (Courtney). The McClane’s butt heads due to their similar personalities. Despite their differences, they must work together to keep each other alive and keep the world safe for democracy. This film positions Courtney to become a recurring character alongside Willis, and possibly take over for Willis as the lead as the sequels continue.

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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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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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It seems HBO isn’t alone in the giving series a second season before they hardly run their first department. In fact, Starz has even done them one better.

The network has officially given the Kelsey Grammer government corruption drama Boss a second season of ten episodes. That’s great news for the show but what makes it even more remarkable is the fact that the show hasn’t even premiered on the network yet.

Don’t be too shocked, though. This move isn’t ompletely without precedent for Starz. The network did the same thing with Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

In case you’re not familiar with Boss (and no reason you should be as you can’t actually see it yet) it was created by writer Farhad Safinia and features Gus Van Sant making his TV directing debut. Grammer plays a ruthless Chicago mayor who has a secret that threatens to destroy him. Don’t they all.

Also in the show are Connie Nielsen, Jeff Hephner, Hannah Ware, Kathleen Robertson and Troy Garity. Production on Season 2 is reportedly set to begin in early 2012.

Look for the first season of Boss to debut on Starz on October 21.

If you’re as addicted to Instant Netflix as the rest of us, you’re probably glued to the New Releases feed to see what the benevolent Netflix gods will bring you to enjoy from the comfort of your bed/couch every night. One company who has helped aid in their vast streaming library is Starz, which expands to original series and films that make it to their movie channels.

It looks like that deal won’t last much longer, as it’s been announced that Starz will choose to discontinue their deal with Netflix and Instant Netflix, pulling their content from the servers. Here’s the press release from Starz.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Sept. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Starz, LLC, President and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Albrecht, issued the following statement today regarding the status of affiliation agreement renewal discussions with Netflix.

“Starz Entertainment has ended contract renewal negotiations with Netflix. When the agreement expires on February 28, 2012, Starz will cease to distribute its content on the Netflix streaming platform. This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content.”

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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 Torchwood is a name that is becoming more an more familiar to American audiences since Starz started airing the this season, it’s been on the top list of quality TV for fans in the UK (or “in the know”) for years now.

The show started off as a small spinoff of the ratings juggernaut Doctor Who, and managed to slowly build an audience comparable to the material in which it was created. With series creator Russell T. Davies, the series managed to bounce all over the BBC networks and eventually get a primetime slot on one of their big channels.

With that growing success, it only made sense to bring the show here to the US, where the population could easily boost those ratings into something the UK rarely gets to see. That’s where Starz comes in.

We got the chance to speak with series star Eve Myles, who has the fortune of being with the series from the pilot, all the way through its reincarnation here on US soil. She mentioned how different the production has been, and how new and exciting this incarnation of the fictional Torchwood team is.

Check out what she had to say after the jump, and catch Torchwood: Miracle Day airing on Starz every Friday.

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