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It’s his Roman Empire.
The sex and blood soaked gladiator series “Spartacus” is an unlikely success story, as it’s continuing fifteen years after nearly getting derailed by the tragic death of its original star, Andy Whitfield.
“For about a decade, I would be approached by Lionsgate or Starz every so often to say, ‘hey, do you want to do more ‘Spartacus?’ And the original show was very difficult and very gut wrenching when we lost Andy. So, I just wasn’t emotionally or creatively prepared to go back,” creator Steven S. DeKnight exclusively told The Post.
Helmed by DeKnight, the historical gladiator drama first premiered with “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” on Starz in 2010. Tragedy struck when Whitfield passed away in 2011 at 39, of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Losing a star is a tragedy on a human level, and on a logistical level, it can also sink a show — see NBC’s 1974 sitcom “Chico and the Man” swiftly declining after star Freddie Prinze died by suicide at 22 in 1977. But fifteen years later, “Spartacus” is back with “Spartacus: House of Ashur” (new episodes out Fridays at 9 p.m. on Starz and streaming on the app).
When the production first got the news of Whitfield’s cancer, “we were working on Season 2. We stopped and had to regroup. It was a blow to all of us. Andy was such a vibrant man. There was a question of, ‘do we shut the show down?’” DeKnight recalled.
During that period, DeKnight and his team released the 2011 prequel miniseries “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.”
The former “Marvel’s Daredevil” showrunner said they made that prequel “absolutely on the fly.”
“White-knuckle, seat of your pants,” he explained. “We were just trying to keep the show alive, while Andy went through his treatments.”
After they lost Whitfield, Liam McIntyre took over the role for two more seasons, 2012’s “Spartacus: Vengeance” and 2013’s “Spartacus: War of the Damned.”
“The plan for the original series was to probably go six or or seven years. But once Andy passed away, we all felt like we wanted to honor him and finish telling this story, but not draw it out, because we were all emotionally just gutted,” DeKnight told The Post.
Years later, they were ready to return. The gladiator drama “Spartacus: House of Ashur” stars Nick E. Tarabay, reprising the role he played throughout the series. Ashur was an antagonist, now he’s in the spotlight.
“It took me about a decade to recover and get the passion for the show flowing again,” said DeKnight.
Like the rest of the “Spartacus” franchise, “House of Ashur” is filled with steamy scenes, heads rolling, and blood spurting.
DeKnight explained that when they were first planning the “Spartacus” world and wondering who the show’s audience was, “we ultimately decided we don’t care. Let’s just make a show that we want to watch.”
The former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” writer continued, “Once you try to appeal to everybody, sometimes it works. But a lot of times, you just get something that’s watered down and has no perspective.”
The amount of sex scenes and blood and guts in “House of Ashur” is part of what the story “requires,” he said.
The drama is set in ancient Rome, and “it’s a very violent world,” he noted. “Life was cheap and they had very different feelings towards violence. It was baked into their culture….we don’t want to shy away from that. So, it’s very graphic.”
“I feel like generally, TV and movies are becoming more and more cautious, for fear of a backlash,” DeKnight said. “The great thing about working with Lionsgate and Starz, at no point did they ever tell us to tone anything down. They understand that this is a show for adults.”
English (US)