''Spartacus: Gods of the Arena'' is a television miniseries broadcast by American cable TV Starz, as a prequel to ''

Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprisin ...

'', which premiered January 21, 2011. The series follows the character Gannicus ( Dustin Clare), the first gladiator representing

Lentulus Batiatus Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Vatia (also called Lentulus Batiatus by Plutarch) was the Roman owner of a gladiatorial school in ancient Capua. It was from this school that, in 73 BC, the Thracian slave Spartacus and about 70 to 78 followers escaped. T ...

to become Champion of

Capua Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etrus ...

. Cast members and characters reprised from the original series include John Hannah as Batiatus,

Lucy Lawless Lucille Frances Lawless (; born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Xena in the television series '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', as D'Anna Biers on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' seri ...

as Lucretia, Peter Mensah as Oenomaus,

Nick E. Tarabay Nick Emad Tarabay (born 28 August 1975) is a Lebanese-born American actor. He is known for portraying Ashur on the Starz television series ''Spartacus'' and Cotyar on the Amazon Prime Video science fiction television series ''The Expanse''. ...

as Ashur,

Lesley-Ann Brandt Lesley-Ann Brandt (born 2 December 1981) is a South African actress. Brandt has acted in a number of New Zealand television series and first came to international notice with her role as a slave girl Naevia in the series '' Spartacus: Blood and ...

as Naevia,

Antonio Te Maioha Antonio Te Maioha (born 1 February 1970) is a television and film actor from New Zealand. He came to international prominence playing a gladiator Barca, the Beast of Carthage, in the television drama '' Spartacus: Blood and Sand'' and its preque ...

as Barca, and

Manu Bennett Jonathan Manu Bennett (born 10 October 1969) is a New Zealand actor. He is primarily known for portraying characters in epic fantasy works, such as Crixus in the TV series ''Spartacus'', Allanon in '' The Shannara Chronicles'', Slade Wilson / ...

as Crixus. The miniseries aired in Canada on

Movie Central Movie Central (occasionally abbreviated as "MC", mostly in program guides) was a Canadian English language Category A premium cable and satellite television channel that was owned by Corus Entertainment. Movie Central was designated to operat ...

and

The Movie Network Crave (formerly The Movie Network or TMN) is a Canadian premium television network and streaming service owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. Launched in 1983 as the national service First Choice, early difficulties and a subsequent ...

, on Sky1 in the United Kingdom and on FX in Latin America.

Cast

Slaves * Dustin Clare as

Gannicus Gannicus was a Celtic slave, who together with the Thracian Spartacus, Crixus, Castus and Oenomaus, became one of the leaders of rebel slaves during the Third Servile War (73–71 BC). In the winter of 71 BC, Gannicus, along with Castus, broke ...

– a Celtic gladiator who is the champion of the Batiatus' ''ludus''. * Peter Mensah as Oenomaus/Doctore – a

Numidian Numidia (Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisi ...

gladiator who later becomes the ''doctore'' of Batiatus' gladiators. *

Marisa Ramirez Marisa Maguire Ramirez (born September 15, 1977) is an American actress, known for her work on television soap operas and for her role on the American police procedural television drama series '' Blue Bloods'' as Detective Maria Baez. Early ...

as Melitta – Lucretia's body slave, the wife of Oenomaus. *

as Crixus – a new Gallic gladiatorial recruit. *

as Ashur – a new Syrian gladiatorial recruit. * Shane Rangi as Dagan – a gladiatorial recruit who speaks only

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

, and fellow Syrian to Ashur. *

as Barca – a Carthaginian gladiator. *

Josef Brown Josef Brown (born 8 October 1969) is an Australian actor, dancer and choreographer. Brown attended The McDonald College of the Arts and the Australian Ballet School, where he was promoted to soloist in 1994. He joined the Sydney Dance Company ...

as Auctus – a gladiator and Barca's lover. *

Temuera Morrison Temuera Derek Morrison (born 26 December 1960) is a New Zealand actor and Singer who first gained recognition for his role as Dr. Hone Ropata on the soap opera ''Shortland Street''. He gained critical acclaim for his starring role as Jake "The ...

as Ulpius/Doctore – Oenomaus' predecessor as the trainer of Batiatus' gladiators. *

as Naevia – a young house-slave. *

Jessica Grace Smith Jessica Grace Smith (born 18 February 1985) is a New Zealand actress, writer and director. Smith graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 2009 with a Bachelor in Performing Arts (Acting). Smith played the role of Denny Miller on ...

as Diona – a house-slave and Naevia's friend who loses her virginity at the whim of Cossutius. Romans * John Hannah as Quintus

– a ''lanista'' *

as Lucretia – Batiatus' wife. *

Jaime Murray Jaime Erica Murray (born 21 July 1976) is an English actress. She is known for playing Stacie Monroe in the BBC series '' Hustle'' (2004–2012), Lila West in the Showtime series ''Dexter'' (2007), Gaia in the Starz miniseries '' Spartacus: ...

as Gaia – a social climber and Lucretia's friend. * Craig Walsh Wrightson as Marcus Decius Solonius – Batiatus' close friend who has aspirations of becoming a lanista himself. * Jeffrey Thomas as Titus Lentulus Batiatus – Quintus Batiatus' father and the ''

pater familias The ''pater familias'', also written as ''paterfamilias'' (plural ''patres familias''), was the head of a Roman family. The ''pater familias'' was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his ext ...

'' of the House of Batiatus. * Stephen Lovatt as Tullius – Batiatus' brutal business rival and enemy. * Gareth Williams as Vettius – owner of a rival ''ludus'' and enemy of Batiatus.

Episodes

Production

The opportunity to produce ''Gods of the Arena'' emerged when the second season of ''

'' was halted while lead actor Andy Whitfield battled

non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tirednes ...

. Series creator and executive producer Steven S. DeKnight expanded a single flashback episode for the second season into a six-part mini-series. Production for ''Gods of the Arena'' began in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in August 2010.

References

External links

* * {{Saturn Award for Best Television DVD Release 2010s American drama television miniseries 2011 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings 2011 American television seasons American prequel television series Gladiatorial combat in fiction Spartacus (TV series) Starz original programming Television dramas set in ancient Rome Television series created by Sam Raimi Television series set in the 1st century BC