Spartacus: Vengeance PR Still 2011
Starz
Liam McIntyre made his public debut Friday at Comic-Con, where he and his Spartacus: Vengeance team we so well-received with screams that you’d think Twilight‘s Taylor Lautner was in the house.
Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight wasted little time in making the introduction and also noted that he literally just met McIntyre on Thursday.
Comic-Con 2011: Full THR Coverage
“We’ve had some wonderful Skype sessions,” he joked.
McIntyre steps into the role of Spartacus left vacant when star Andy Whitfield departed the series as he battled cancer.
DeKnight noted that Whitfield is doing well and is open to working with DeKnight again — with one condition.
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“Andy would like to work together again on another show — and per Andy — as long as he doesn’t have to take his clothes off,” he said.
McIntyre, meanwhile, was very humble during the panel in an overflowing Room 6BCF.
“The best thing I can do is bust my ass and work really damn hard in honoring [Whitfield’s] legacy and to try to make Season 2 as good as Season 1,” he said.
STORY: Comic-Con 2011: New ‘Spartacus’ Liam McIntyre on How He Landed the Role
“I’ve spoken to Andy and he’s a wonderful gentleman,” McIntyre noted. “I understand Andy called up the guys and said he wanted the show to continue. He gave his blessing to the show and obviously I’m very grateful for that. It makes my job easier knowing that the guy who started the whole thing is OK with it. That means a whole lot to me.”
As for how much footage would have to be reshot from Season 1, DeKnight noted it wasn’t much and might only have been one scene, which Lucy Lawless (Lucretia) noted was “so hot!”
As for what fans can expect from Spartacus: Vengeance, which bows in January on Starz, DeKnight teased that it would be bloody.
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“My plan for this season is to kill more people,” he said. “There’s an episode where we kill a lot of people. This season is just epic. They’re out and about causing mayhem and destruction.
“The season is called Vengeance, so there will be quite a lot of that,” DeKnight said. “Spartacus isn’t the only one out for that.”
McIntyre, meanwhile, was a total team player when a fan asked him for his best “I am Spartacus!” chant and deflected the request, instead asking the entire ballroom to do it in tandem. Well played, sir.
Watch the new teaser for Spartacus: Vengeance below in which McIntyre says the famed line.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
