Over 12 years ago, the four-part series of Spartacus came to a trademark R-rated end on Starz. From Blood and Sand to the Gods of the Arena prequel through to Vengeance and War of the Damned, viewers who stuck with the original season past the first two episodes were treated to a bounty of superb writing and intense visuals.
Now, in this age of legacy prequels, sequels, reboots, and the like, Starz is taking us back to Ancient Rome to rekindle the glory of Spartacus. In doing so, they’ll thankfully be bringing back the original creator, but will be running a bit of revisionist history on their own story. It’s certainly a different approach to what we often see.
People Still Crave an Experience in Ancient Rome
The first season of Spartacus: Blood and Sand opens with two rather poor episodes of TV. From the odd character decisions – including our hero blindly throwing a sword at his unknowing wife, trusting she’ll duck in time – to the poor dialogue and zany CGI blood, while it did put down important pieces, on the face of it, you could skip.
Many, many reviewers took this route, resulting in its low critic score on review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes. Getting to episode three and beyond puts you on a rollercoaster of tight narrative, impressive twists, and superb character development, reflected in its very high audience scores.
Spartacus concluded in 2013, but in recent years, entertainment companies have clearly been keen to feed an audience desire to go back to Ancient Rome and even indulge in some of Spartacus’ calling cards. Those About to Die went big on its gore, gladiators, and R-rating, Spartacus-style, but failed to stick the landing.
In late 2024, a colossus of a blockbuster hyped up for months hit cinemas on a $250 million production budget. Gladiator II, however, could only muster $9 million more worldwide, not adjusted for inflation, than its 2000 predecessor. It didn’t exactly get any help from viewers who saw a lackluster retread and historical absurdities.
Where Rome has continued to thrive and where creatives have met the demand is in online casino gaming. Most recently, Rage of Rome Power Combo hit the digital libraries of the jackpot casino online. It followed the release of still-popular slots like Reign of Rome and the Rome: Fight for Gold duology. Then there’s also Gladiator, Gladiator Legends, Gladiator: Beasts of Glory, and Eye of Spartacus, all appealing to players who continue to seek an entertainment experience in Ancient Rome.
Envisioning a Different Outcome for Spartacus
The story of Spartacus is one of a great rebellion after the continued pressures of being gladiators – with a few extra misdeeds sprinkled in – got to be too much for the slave warriors. Now, one of the more deceptive and sneaky characters of the early seasons will be coming back to the story.
In Spartacus: House of Ashur, writer and showrunner Steven S. DeKnight reimagines what would have happened if the snake hadn’t met his demise. In what would be the fifth season of the Spartacus world, Ashur works his way to own the gladiator school he once called home, finding Roman politics to be far more complicated.
Given his work in the early seasons as the man in the shadows, forever moving his hand to make things happen for his owner and to exact his own ideas of vengeance, Ashur is an intriguing character to throw into the cutthroat world of betrayal and politics among the higher-ups of Rome. Yet, it’s tough to escape the knowledge that it’s just a reimagining, and not what actually happened to the character in the story proper.
Despite this, if written as well as Blood and Sand, this Spartacus revival will be a welcome addition to a rather scant TV schedule later this year, even if the House of Ashur was never to be.