Andy Whitfield may not have attended the Spartacus: Vengeance panel at Comic-Con on Friday, but his presence was still felt by fans and former castmates who missed his performance as the iconic slave on the first season of the Starz sword-and-sandal drama. The actor had dropped out of the series to battle non-Hodgkin lymphoma...
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Andy Whitfield isn't the only Spartacus: Blood and Sand actor to be replaced for the second season. Lesley-Ann Brandt is also leaving the Starz series, and her role will be recast, Deadline reports.
In the prequel Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Brandt played body slave Naevia to Lucretia (Lucy Lawless), who eventually becomes the lover of Crixus the gladiator in the original series' first season. Brandt reportedly decided not to renew her contract to appear in the second season. She just began a recurring role on CSI: NY and recently appeared on an episode of Chuck.
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Spartacus: Gods of the Arena rewinds the clock, resurrects a couple of dead guys and introduces two new characters who share in the gladiator-era debauchery and bloodlust.
Set approximately five years before Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the six-part prequel (premiering Friday at 10/9c on Starz) features a more youthful but no less ambitious Lentulus Batiatus (John Hannah), and his randy wife Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) as well as Gladitor Crixus (Manu Bennett) and Oenomaus (Peter Mensah). New to the story are Gannicus (Dustin Clare), a gladiator, and the merry widow Gaia (Jaime Murray), both of whom provide much of the entertainment — and trouble — in Batiatus' world before the arrival of Spartacus.
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Pre-production has begun on a six-part Spartacus: Blood and Sand prequel to air in January, Starz announced Tuesday.
The untitled project, which will start shooting this summer, will focus on the rise of the House of Batiatus and its champions before...
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