Spartacus: Are you not entertained?! Revival in the Works at Starz by Creator Steven S. DeKnight.

Andy Whitfield, star of Starz's "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," has been advised by his doctors to immediately resume aggressive treatment for a recurrence of cancer, as a result of which he will not be returning for the series' second season, which was tentatively set to air in September 2011.

"It's with a deep sense of disappointment that I must step aside from such an exceptional project as Spartacus and all the wonderful people involved. It seems that it is time for myself and my family to embark on another extraordinary journey. Thank you sincerely for the support so far," said Whitfield.

"Our hearts and prayers are with Andy and his family during this difficult time," said Starz President and CEO Chris Albrecht. "Andy is not only an incredible actor whose portrayal of Spartacus made an indelible impression on Starz audiences, he is also an amazing human being whose courage, strength, and grace in the face of adversity have inspired all of us."

No decisions have yet been made about the future of the series. "Right now, we just want to extend our concern and support to Andy and his family," said Carmi Zlotnik, Managing Director, Starz Media. "We will address our programming plans at some later date."

Starz still plans to air the prequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand in January 2011. Entitled Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, it focuses on the House of Batiatus before Spartacus arrives in Capua and stars returning cast members John Hannah, Lucy Lawless, Peter Mensah and Manu Bennett, along with newcomer Dustin Clare.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/spartac ... -in-limbo/

I could hardly tell any of the blokes in that show apart anyway, just shuffle the cast round a bit.

That's a shame. He did an action scene with Freddie Wong on YouTube recently and said everything was fine, so yeah. Shame. Still, the prequal should be good and fingers crossed he can pull through this round of treatment and come back in a year or two. As unlikely as that might be.

They could recast him, but that'd just be gooseberry fool.

That poor guy.

I hope he pulls through and gets the chance to pick up where he left off, or at the very least recover and move on.

It'd be nice if they wrote his absense from season 2 into the story and essentially wrote Spartacus out of series 2 with the door open for him to later return. Maybe set it around the other gladiators fighting Romans and say Spartacus has left in search of other slaves to recruit and he'll return with an army.

Then, if he's well enough he can come back later and pick up where he left of, if not they could have other slaves/gladiators he's recruited come into season 3 and one of them take on the name of Spartacus to continue his legend in his honour (seeing as it was a name given in the arena rather than his birthname).

Nicely avoids a direct recast then and still doesn't rule out an eventual return later on should anything change further in but still gives the show it's "Spartacus" character..

Hope he pulls through though, shame for someone as young as him to get ill like that specially as his career was taking off.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena S01E01 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P5K2SBDJ

strawberry float yeah

Neo Cortex wrote:8-) strawberry float yeah

i enjoyed it alot, i was worried about the whole prequel aspect, but it's actually pretty interesting.

Monkey Man wrote:Spartacus: Gods of the Arena S01E01 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P5K2SBDJ

Cheers dude, My dad loved the original series, and will pass this over to him.

Anyone got a link for this weeks ep please?

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena S01E02 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H8BJ84A8

Great second episode, poor Oenomaus. Jaime Murray makes my dick tingle so strawberry floating much.

Interesting to see what will happen to Gannicus. Was he mentioned at all in Blood & Sand? If they're trying to keep it historically accurate then Gannicus was part of the slave rebellion so he can't die. Maybe he gets sold prior to Spartacus' arrival and he'll link up with Spartacus if and when a second season of B&S is made..

Loved that second episode massively.

Last edited by dmin on Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

Another excellent ep. Great to see its keeping up to the standards set in the original series.

Plus, John Hannah in a 3-way with Lawless and Murray

Brilliant so far

Igor wrote:Jaime Murray makes my dick tingle so strawberry floating much.

I can't believe that she left Hustle :cry:

I'll have to get into this at some point.

Igor wrote:Great second episode, poor Oenomaus. Jaime Murray makes my dick tingle so strawberry floating much.

Interesting to see what will happen to Gannicus. Was he mentioned at all in Blood & Sand? If they're trying to keep it historically accurate then Gannicus was part of the slave rebellion so he can't die. Maybe he gets sold prior to Spartacus' arrival and he'll link up with Spartacus if and when a second season of B&S is made..

Second series has been confirmed now I think, different actor playing Spartacus though but hopefully they'll keep the quality high. I think Gannicus has been confirmed for season 2 as well so assume they'll have him exit in the prequel in a way that he can later return. Maybe Crixus will defeat him to become champion and so gets sold or else he'll earn his freedom? Depends how much time this prequel is spanning I guess too, seems to have all happened in a couple of days so far - Crixus must've been training bloody hard to get that good so quickly :lol:

New Spartacus actor - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2553987/ - Liam McIntrye.

Spartacus: Are you not entertained?! Revival in the Works at Starz by Creator Steven S. DeKnight.

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