After two full seasons, a miniseries and the September 2011 death of its star, the upcoming third season of Starz's swords-and-sandals drama "Spartacus" will be its last.
Starz’s Spartacus may be living on past the upcoming final season.
The pay cable network is discussing a possible spinoff centered on Roman leader Julius Caesar, The Hollywood Reporter confirms.
The character of Caesar, played by Australian actor Todd Lasance, will be a new addition to the third season, Spartacus: War of the Damned, which premieres Jan. 25.
War of the Damned picks up after the defeat of Roman commander Gaius Claudius Glaber, with Spartacus (Liam McIntyre) and his men, high on a string of key victories against the Romans, helping cement his legends and increase the ranks of the rebellion slaves to more than 30,000.
Spartacus was the first scripted original drama developed in-house by Starz and has become valuable to the network, with the most recent season averaging more than 6 million viewers each week.
Spartacus boss Steven DeKnight, who is developing Incursion at Starz under his two-year overall deal, hinted to THR in June that there could be a spinoff. “In the halls of Starz, we often whisper about a spinoff. We’ve set up a world that is just perfect to spin off into other areas during this time period,” he said at the time. “We are open to, down the road, revisiting this world, whether it’s Julius Caesar, whether it’s set in the same time period or whether it’s a little later in the time period.”
The news comes after Starz opted not to bring back Kelsey Grammer‘s Boss, ending the political drama after a two-season run that ended in October.
E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
