Spartacus: War of the Damned (2010– )
"Spartacus: Blood and Sand" (original title)

Watch the story of history's greatest gladiator unfold with graphic violence and explicit sex. This is Spartacus.

Creator:

Steven S. DeKnight

Stars:

Manu Bennett, Daniel Feuerriegel, Lucy Lawless

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Manu Bennett	...	Crixus (33 episodes, 2010-2013)
Daniel Feuerriegel	...	Agron (26 episodes, 2010-2013)
Peter Mensah	...	Doctore (23 episodes, 2010-2013)
Lucy Lawless	...	Lucretia (23 episodes, 2010-2012)
Nick Tarabay	...	Ashur (21 episodes, 2010-2012)
Viva Bianca	...	Ilithyia (21 episodes, 2010-2012)
Liam McIntyre	...	Spartacus (20 episodes, 2012-2013)
Pana Hema Taylor	...	Nasir (19 episodes, 2012-2013)
Cynthia Addai-Robinson	...	Naevia (18 episodes, 2012-2013)
Heath Jones	...	Donar (17 episodes, 2012-2013)
Dustin Clare	...	Gannicus (16 episodes, 2012-2013)
Katrina Law	...	Mira (15 episodes, 2010-2012)
Ellen Hollman	...	Saxa (14 episodes, 2012-2013)
Barry Duffield	...	Lugo (14 episodes, 2012-2013)

Storyline

The inspiration behind this series is the Thracian Gladiator Spartacus, who led a slave uprising against the Roman Republic. The Thracians had been persuaded by Claudius Glaber to serve as auxiliaries in the Roman legions in a campaign against the Getae, who had often plundered Thracian lands. However after Glaber reneges on the deal and switches his attentions from the Getae to attack Mithridates in Asia Minor, the Thracians feel betrayed and mutiny. Captured by Glaber, Spartacus is condemned to death as a Gladiator, whilst his wife Sura is condemned to slavery. Spartacus, however, proves to be a formidable gladiator, and defeats the four gladiators tasked with executing him. He becomes a favorite of the crowd, leading Senator Albinius to commute his death sentence to a life of slavery. Spartacus is purchased by Batiatus for gladiator training, who promises to help him find Sura if he proves himself in training. As the series develops, the story follows the betrayals and machinations...

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Plot Keywords:

gladiator | roman | training | slavery | death | 

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Taglines:

Some legends are written in blood.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Facebook [United Kingdom]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 January 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Spartacus

Filming Locations:

Auckland, New Zealand

Company Credits

Production Co:

Starz Media, Starz Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of Varro (Jai Courtney) was originally planned to be killed in the fourth episode.

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Quotes

Marcus Crassus: [talking about the reasons why they are fighting] As mine
[hands]
Marcus Crassus: are so moved toward the memory of my son. As yours toward wife no longer...
Spartacus: Do not think to place your loss on equal footing! Your son took up arms for the republic - the same one that saw my innocent wife torn from grasp, condemned to slavery and death.
Marcus Crassus: And now you would lead thousands to join her in futile attempt?
Spartacus: Whatever happens to my people, it happens because *we* choose for it. *We* decide our fates; not you, not the Romans...

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Crazy Credits

During the series run, each episode has shots from the season as the background while the credits roll. The pictures in the background vary depending on the season. The exception to this being the series finale where a montage of the characters are displayed.

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Connections

Featured in The Wright Stuff: Episode #13.35 (2010)

User Reviews

Are you not entertained?

Like the gladiatorial games it draws from, 'Spartacus - Blood and Sand' is a spectacle of violence, gore and sexy naked bodies.

That's why it's such fun.

'Spartacus BaS' definitely has its roots in the Raimi & Tapert school of "fun", though.

Both '300' and 'Gladiator' are often over-rated; like 'Spartacus BaS' they are also "fun" movies that weren't brain-dead yet didn't require much more than simply sitting back and enjoying them. While I rank the likes of 'Rome' VERY highly, it was more of a period drama (like 'I, Claudius' before it) than an action series, and it boasted a far higher budget and attempt at realism than BaS.

Unlike some shows (even many excellent ones) the episodes are extremely well-paced, never feeling overlong yet a lot happens in each; every one almost feels like a mini-movie, and while we are left wanting more, there are so far none of the forced "cliffhangers" shows like 'Lost' and '24' make us suffer through over and over again.

On the casting front, I'm very glad (and not just for the obvious reasons) that Lucy Lawless was so up for this, as she really has fun with her (admittedly Attia-like) role, also proving to mainstream audiences that Xena was not just a "fluke", while John Hannah lends weight to proceedings and Viva Bianca really "gets" what this is about and provides an enormous addition to the sense of fun and enjoyment as she plays the kind of spoiled rich girl that crosses genres. Special note to Craig Parker too, who was so woefully underused in 'Legend of the Seeker' (playing perhaps the most neutered villain of all-time), obviously relishing being the "big bad" and playing a right bastard we love to hate. In fact, fans of Australian and New Zealand made shows will recognize a lot of the cast, and its great to see cameos by some old RenPics favorites.

While the overuse of CGI gets annoying (it reminds my of late 90's "movie" video games like 'Wing Commander III' when ALL the sets were green screens!) I'll take that over NO scope or action (even 'Rome' - though for their own reasons - never went the "huge scale" path with massive Colosseum events or field battles).

Spartacus (played by Andy Whitfield with just the right mix of determination and self-pity) gets on my nerves a bit for being such a blatant idiot at times, making both typical "movie mistakes" ("let the bad guy live", etc.) and very human ones. But it is very nice, on the other hand, to have a "heroic" series/character who is still very flawed and (thankfully) far from the best fighter in the show.

'Spartacus BaS' takes a while to get going, and the pilot definitely visually and stylistically feels more '300' than perhaps it should, but once we get to the training school, we're in much more solid territory.

It isn't original... those who've played the PS2 game 'Colosseum - Road to Freedom' will find a lot of similarities, as will fans of 'Gladiator' of course. But this is something to expect in a genre that is both based in history and has a fairly narrow list of (decent) fellow entries.

So far, I've seen only three episodes, but - for what I understand to be a "startup" network's first big show - I think it succeeds wonderfully and shows great promise... I'm looking forward to where we will be taken next with these characters.

So long as they keep things entertaining, bloody and sexy yet refrain from going so far as to be TOO gratuitous, I think it will be a big hit.