Warning! The following article contains major spoilers for the Spartacus: House of Ashur Season 1 finale. If you’re not yet caught up with the series, return after watching “Hail Caesar” or continue on at your own discretion.

When Spartacus: House of Ashur was first announced a few years ago, the spinoff series bringing back Nick E. Taraby’s titular villain seemed like one of those incredibly violent shows where anything and everything could happen. And, in the Season 1 finale, the highly watchable Starz series gave audiences a shocking, history-changing death when Ashur killed Julius Caesar. Yes, that Julius Caesar. With that, CinemaBlend had to ask the show's creator about what this could mean for Season 2.

Ahead of the Spartacus: House of Ashur finale’s premiere on the 2026 TV schedule, I caught up with series creator and showrunner Steven S. DeKnight. It was during our conversation that DeKnight opened up about why Ashur would kill someone so powerful, and the EP also explains what this could mean for Tarabay’s character moving forward:

Despite being a dominus in charge of his own ludus throughout the show’s first season, Ashur never gets the respect from the Roman elite, especially when it comes to Jackson Gallagher’s Gaius Julius Caesar and his wife, Corenelia, played by Jaime Slater. Considering he's referred to as “The Syrian,” mocked, used, abused, and embarrassed more times than you can count, it’s easy to see why the show’s anti-hero would finally snap.

So where does this leave Ashur, his house of gladiators, and the rest of the Roman Republic moving forward? Well, Starz has yet to formally announce a second season, at the time of this writing. However, DeKnight still hinted at where things could go from here for Ashur:

That point DeKnight makes is made abundantly clear in the final moments of the episode. During that scene, Ashur calmly and triumphantly says, “Hail Caesar” after taking out the historical figure who made his life a living hell.

In fact, this whole scenario that played out in the finale is the very thing DeKnight pitched to Tarabay when he contacted him a few years ago about bringing the Spartacus franchise back, along with his character. DeKnight recalled:

Needless to say, Ashur is feeling more empowered than ever. Not only that, but a storm is definitely on the horizon with the fallout of Julius Caesar’s untimely passing. With all of that in mind, it's definitely going to be intriguing to see where things are going for Spartacus: House of Ashur.

Now, we just need to figure out if or when Season 2 is actually happening. In the meantime, relive the thrills of House of Ashur's first season using a Starz membership.

Spoiler Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the Spartacus: House of Ashur premiere. Please exercise extreme caution…

After what seems like years of waiting for it to happen, Spartacus: House of Ashur has finally arrived on the 2025 TV schedule, and I’m hooked! The new Starz original series, which offers a big what-if scenario for one of the franchise’s most divisive characters, kicked off with one hell of an opening sequence that included a brief yet intriguing cameo that longtime fans will surely enjoy.

In the premiere episode, Nick E. Tarabay’s Ashur, who was decapitated on Spartacus: Vengeance, is visited by the spectre of Lucretia, the cunning wife of his former master. So, when I caught up with series creator Steven S. DeKnight and Tarabay, I had to ask about getting Lucy Lawless to reprise her iconic role, to which they replied:

• Steven S. DeKnight: It was so great to work with Lucy again. I mean, she's just amazing. I think it was the perfect way to get back into the world and set up the what-if.
• Nick E. Tarabay: Yeah, Lucy’s a lot of fun to work with.

Though Lucretia appears in only one scene, the brief yet captivating return of Lucy Lawless’ character did a wonderful job of setting the stage for what’s to come in the series. Appearing as a ghostly guide through the underworld, the wife of Quintus Lentulus Batiatus, once saved by Ashur many years ago, offers the dead man a “new reality, uncoupled from history.”

After the encounter, Ashur is thrust into a new life, one where he sided with Crassus and turned on the rebels instead of siding with Spartacus and in return was given a higher social status and a group of gladiators.

When I asked Tarabay what it was like to be back playing Ashur again after all these years, he described the experience as being “magical” and that it felt like “going back home,” adding:

Though Spartacus: House of Ashur tells a different story on a separate timeline, where the events of the main franchise never happened, the spinoff is full of the intense violence fans have come to know and love over the years. It hasn’t reached the body count of the original just yet, but we’re only two episodes in at this point.

The first two episodes of Spartacus: House of Ashur are streaming on Starz (those who snagged that Black Friday deal are probably happy about now), with subsequent chapters being released on Fridays.

One of the big differences between Daredevil: Born Again, which finished its first season on the 2025 TV schedule earlier this month, and the original Daredevil series, which was originally released on Netflix, are the people putting these shows together. While Marvel Studios is handling Born Again, Daredevil was handled back in the day by the now-defunct Marvel Television, which was run as a separate entity. It turns out that division is the reason why the series wasn’t able to include more references to the existing Marvel movies in order, which makes me all the more appreciative that Born Again hasn’t had to deal with such restrictions.

This information comes to us from Steven DeKnight, the showrunner for Daredevil Season 1. He gave the following response when a fan asked him on X (formerly known as Twitter) if there had been any plans for the series, which can now be streamed with a Disney+ subscription, to have “more connections to the MCU” or if it was “always intended to be canon from the beginning”:

People who weren’t invested in MCU lore wouldn’t have been faulted for not knowing that Daredevil existed in the same world as movies like Iron Man and Thor. Outside a few indirect mentions, like when Wilson Fisk’s right-hand man Wesley mentioned how it’d be understandable if Daredevil was so formidable if “he had an iron suit or a magic hammer,” the series might as well have been a standalone offering. Directly tying into fellow Marvel Netflix shows Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders miniseries and The Punisher was no problem, but going any further than that was problematic.

Now that’s not to say Daredevil: Born Again is overflowing with MCU references because it’s a Marvel Studios production. Frankly, it also functions as a pretty self-contained show. But then on top of that, we’ve also seen Charlie Cox reprise Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Vincent D’Onofrio reprised Wilson Fisk in Hawkeye, and both appeared in Echo. OK, so there may be issues with using Kingpin in a Spider-Man movie, but for the most part, the Daredevil-related characters are being warmly welcomed into the wider MCU landscape rather than being kept secluded in their own corner.

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is expected to premiere on Disney+ in March 2026. Beyond that, there’s no word on if Matt Murdock, Wilson Fish or any other characters in their direct orbit are set to appear in upcoming Marvel movies or upcoming Marvel TV shows. I certainly hope so, because this synergy has been much more preferable compared to the limitations imposed on the first Daredevil series.

Daredevil: Born Again is still on the upcoming Marvel TV shows slate, but Disney+ subscribers will have to wait longer for its arrival. Last week, it was reported that Born Again is making some major behind-the-scenes changes, namely that its head writers and directors have been let go due to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and other executives allegedly being unimpressed with what had been shot so far. Now Steven DeKnight, who served as the showrunner of Netflix’s Daredevil in its first season, has clarified his comments on Born Again’s shakeups, and his point is still valid.

On October 11, the day this Daredevil: Born Again update surfaced, DeKnight (whose other major credits include Spartacus, Jupiter’s Legacy and Pacific Rim: Uprising) responded to the news by saying, “The experiment, thankfully, appears to be over.” Days later, he clarified in X what he meant by this statement when someone commented on his post with the assumption that he was “happy” about “the show being scrapped”:

‘Scrapped’ isn’t necessarily the right term to use for Daredevil: Born Again if the claim that select scenes and sequences from the episode that have already been shot will be retained in whatever the final product ends up being, but ‘overhaul’ definitely fits for what’s ahead. More importantly, Steven DeKnight has cleared up that he’s not celebrating that the show in its original form has been set aside, but that someone who has both writing and showrunning experience will be selected to take over the series. It’s an excellent point; on a show of this scale, you need someone who has experience guiding this kind of small screen ship rather than trying it out for the first time.

Although DeKnight has previously said that he takes issue with Disney+’s Daredevil show going by a different title to, as he put it, “avoid paying the original creatives or triggering a raise for the crew,” he does “fully support” Born Again and enjoyed Charlie Cox’s “lighter take” on Matt Murdock in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. He also doesn’t wish any ill will towards Matt Corman and Chris Ord, who will no longer be the head writers on Born Again, although they will still get executive producers credits. When someone claiming to be “good friends” with Corman and Ord thanked DeKnight for how “kind” he’s been about all this, he answered in a separate X post:

So what exactly was wrong with Daredevil: Born Again in its original incarnation? While few specific details were revealed, supposedly the show felt more like a legal procedural drama than an action-packed superhero offering, and Matt Murdock didn’t even suit up as the Man Without Fear in the first three episodes. The behind-the-scenes turmoil on the recently-released Secret Invasion also reportedly factored into Kevin Feige and the MCU’s leadership team deciding to take Born Again in a different direction, and now the next step is to hire actual showrunners.

As far as onscreen talent goes, Charlie Cox is joined in the Daredevil: Born Again cast by Vincent D’Onofrio and Jon Bernthal respectively reprising Kingpin and The Punisher, as well as new faces like Michael Gandolfini and Sandrine Holt. The first season will consists of 18 episodes, and a second season is already being planned. You can check out our rundown of what we know about Daredevil: Born Again and then stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on new updates until the show's premiere.

When Netflix cancelled Daredevil back in late 2018 after three seasons, naturally the assumption was that this was the last we’d see of Charlie Cox as the title character. But over time, there were rumblings that Cox would reprise Marvel Comics’ Man Without Fear within the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper, and sure enough, he briefly appeared as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and that was followed by a full Daredevil return in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Former Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight has now thrown some praise Cox’s way for the latter project, as well as clarified his thoughts on the character’s upcoming Disney+ show, Daredevil: Born Again.

DeKnight, whose other credits include Spartacus, Angel, Smallville and Jupiter’s Legacy, was Daredevil Season 1’s showrunner, taking over those duties from Drew Goddard and passing them along to Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez for Season 2. Of course, while Daredevil was a pretty dark show, Cox’s Matt Murdock was appropriately treated with a lighter hand in the comedic She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, but that didn’t bother DeKnight. As he told a fan on Twitter who inquired:

Steven DeKnight’s correct, while Daredevil is often thought of as a darker character thanks to runs from writers like Frank Miller, Brian Bendis and Ed Brubaker, just like Batman, the character has also had lighthearted periods, from his early Silver Age appearances to much of Mark Waid’s run. So while the funnier way Charlie Cox played Daredevil in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law would have felt out of place in the original Daredevil show, that doesn’t make his depiction any less valid. Cox’s Matt teamed up with Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters in “Ribbit and Rip It” after briefly squaring off against each other in court, and by the end of the season finale, titled “Whose Show Is This?”, he was abruptly brought back by K.E.V.I.N. and seen meeting the super heroine’s family.

While it remains to be seen if Matt and Jennifer will continue to be romantically involved MCU, Charlie Cox at least has a bright future as Daredevil ahead of him regardless. He’ll next appear in Echo, which will drop all its episodes to Disney+ subscribers at once sometime in January, and then Daredevil: Born Again will premiere at a yet-to-be-announced date. Earlier this week, Steven DeKnight said that the Daredevil TV show being “an old Disney scam where they slightly rename a series to reset contract terms back to first season,” and that it needs to “be addressed by all the guilds/unions and crushed.”

When an article was published framing DeKnight’s thoughts as criticizing Disney and Marvel for rebooting the Daredevil series rather than making a fourth season of the original show, he made it clear this wasn’t the case and said the following about Born Again in another tweet:

Created by showrunners Matt Corman and Chris Ord, Daredevil: Born Again already has a second season being planned, and the first season will consist of 18 episodes. Principal photography began in early March 2023, but experienced various production shutdowns in May and early June as a result of the writers strike, followed by cameras shutting down for good in mid-June until the strike is over. Cox is joined in the Born Again cast by fellow Marvel Netflix alums Vincent D’Onofrio and Jon Bernthal, who are respectively reprising Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (who returned in Hawkeye and is also appearing in Echo) and Frank Castle/The Punisher. The lineup of newcomers includes Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, Nikki M. James, Michal Gaston, Arty Froushan, Clark Johnson (who’s also directing) and Marc Geller.

As soon as Daredevil: Born Again resumes production and more concrete details about the show come to light, we’ll let you know. Until then, head to Disney+ to stream the original Daredevil series and nearly every other MCU project, or learn what other upcoming Marvel TV shows are on the way.

Netflix's Wednesday was undoubtedly one of the biggest TV shows of the past year, turning Jenna Ortega into as much of a household name as the Addams Family character she portrayed. (Probably inspired more dance parties than the O.G. version, though.) One drawback to such heights of fame involves a celebrity's words and thoughts getting endlessly picked apart, such as it went when Ortega spoke out about being "unprofessional" on the set and altering the scripts' dialogue on the fly. Those comments, which were critical of the work from creators/showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (as well as the writing staff), sparked a sporadic weeklong Twitter tirade from Spartacus creator and former Daredevil EP Steven S. DeKnight, though it appears angry debates have given way to a wave of calm understanding. 

What Jenna Ortega Said To Begin With

While popping by as a guest on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Jenna Ortega talked about her attempts to keep Wednesday as authentic as possible to what she perceived the character to be. She talked openly about moments that she didn't think fit in with the goth Addams teen, with the love triangle being a go-to target, and went on to say that she reached a point where she began altering the dialogue against others' wishes. In her words:

Ortega followed up on that interview with a trip to The Tonight Show, where she claimed that she and the writers talked about bringing in more horror elements for Season 2 and eschewing some of the romance. And while there are no doubt fans out there who agree with her general thoughts, the way she went about expressing them is what caused minor backlash-ery on Twitter. (Not to mention all the other times Ortega complained, somewhat good-naturedly, about working on the Netflix hit.)

How Stephen S. DeKnight Slammed Ortega's Comments

Not long after the interview went live, Steven DeKnight took to Twitter with his first critical view of how Ortega went about sharing her thoughts.

To be expected, that tweet thread led to a rolling deluge of comments that ran the entire gamut of human opinion. Some agreed whole-heartedly that Ortega came across as self-righteous and disagreeable, regardless of whether her thoughts had merit or not. Others weren't so concerned with professionalism so much as Wednesday being good, and praised whatever changes Ortega made that helped. And many others just took potshots at DeKnight's entertainment career without addressing any actual points, because Twitter.

It'd have been one thing if that was the extent of Steven S. DeKnight's commentary on the situation, but it was just the beginning. The writer/producer/director is known for being as vocal as one can be on social media, and he certainly didn't disappoint over the next week or so when engaging with others who both agreed and disagreed with his stance. Not that many took the time to understand what his actual stance was, and were content to just rattle off about their own thoughts. 

But across the lengthy stretch in which this topic has bounced around DeKnight's Twitter feed, he's repeatedly stressed what his actual issue is, while also being very appreciative and complimentary regarding Jenna Ortega in any other capacity beyond "publicly criticizing the show's writers." Here's a handful of his comments on that front:

• It’s bad form to shit on your colleagues in public. Period. Again, I’d feel the same way if the showrunners did the same thing to her.
• I think she's fantastic on screen. And I sincerely hope realizes why what she said has upset so many writers. We're in the trenches together. We need to publicly support each other.
• [in response to racially motivated accusations] Respectfully, you’re way off here. I’m responding to an actor who made the very poor choice to publicly throw her showrunner/writers under a bus because she disagreed with their writing. Race and gender have zero to do with it. And I’ve been very clear that I love her work. But what she did was extremely bad form in this industry for anyone. Period.
• Any of her criticisms may have been valid and she absolutely should have brought them up with the showrunners. That’s how the process works. But what you don’t do is badmouth your writers in an interview. Just like writers/showrunners should never publicly badmouth their actors. It works both ways.

To be sure, many people commenting on his thoughts were in complete agreement, and there were also those who debated him with the full understanding of where he was coming from, as opposed to baseless bashing. 

Is It Over Now? Maybe

It seems like Steven S. DeKnight finally wrapped things up regarding Wednesday and Jenna Ortega this week, with a few compassionate exchanges with some who actually did come around to grasping his point after first thinking he was attacking Ortega for no reason.

And perhaps finally, DeKnight also shared a plea for everyone to take a second to think about being nice, instead of instinctively oozing vitriol at every disagreement. 

Probably slightly less love to the many people who got blocked and muted during that week-long stretch, but still. 

Wednesday is available to stream for anyone with a Netflix subscription, while DeKnight's classic action/adventure Spartacus (and many other awesome shows) can be streamed with a Starz subscription. And stay tuned for more about the new Spartacus project that he's putting together.

Ahhh, Marvel. You’ve given us so much: supervillains we can hate, heroes we can root for, Big Bads we can look at and say, “Well, he’s kinda got a point…,” and through it all we’ve watched the many movies and shows given to us with a fervent glee, eagerly awaiting the next project. But, now, the MCU is opening up the Marvel Multiverse to fans, and with the recent announcement that Charlie Cox will continue to be the one to portray Matt Murdock / Daredevil whenever the opportunity next arises, many fans now have a major question. Are the Netflix Marvel shows in the MCU? Unfortunately, it sounds like even Daredevil’s former showrunner is confused.

Daredevil kicked off Marvel’s TV offerings on Netflix, and ran for three seasons before being cancelled a little over a month after the third season debuted, leading fans everywhere to hope that we’d be able to see Charlie Cox take on the role again. With Kevin Feige’s confirmation that Cox will be the only man to don the devil-horned suit for the MCU, though, does that mean that the events of all the Netflix shows took place in the official MCU? A fan recently asked that question to Daredevil's Season 1 showrunner, Steven DeKnight, on Twitter, but he sounds just as confused as the rest of us:

Well. That’s a simple enough answer, isn’t it? Steven DeKnight has no clue about whether or not the Netflix shows he helped to get off the ground are considered MCU canon or not, but there are probably a couple of reasons for that. Not only do the folks at Marvel tend leave the creatives behind their many shows and movies in the dark until they absolutely have to fill them in on larger plans, but DeKnight left the show (pretty much amicably) over creative differences. And, seeing as how he wasn't intimately involved with the series for two seasons by the time it was cancelled, it makes sense that he'd be in the dark about something like this. 

As I’m sure you will recall, Daredevil was far from alone on Netflix when it came to Marvel offerings on the streamer. It wasn’t long before Jessica Jones, Luke Cake, The Defenders, The Punisher, and Iron Fist (I know this debuted before Defenders, OK? Just...don’t get me started on Iron Fist.) came along, and gave us a much grittier look at Marvel’s heroes than what we’d gotten so far in the movies, or other television shows. If Charlie Cox is still Daredevil, what does that mean for the rest of these heroes, their allies, and villains like Vincent D’Onofrio’s beloved Kingpin?

Until this year’s Marvel shows on Disney+, there was an amount of separation between the movies and the series that confused many fans. Shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter could be influenced by the big screen adventures, but not the other way around. The same was pretty much true as we saw it on the Netflix series, with the Battle of New York from The Avengers being referenced here and there, because all of the shows took place in that city.

With Kevin Feige being his typical, Marvel-cagey self and not being ready to divulge the company’s explicit plans for Charlie Cox’s Daredevil just yet, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether or not he’ll be alone when it comes to actors / characters from the Nextlix shows coming into the MCU proper. 

Many fans still think we saw Cox’s arms (and the rest of his midsection) in a trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home. That’s certainly possible, but seeing as how that movie will introduce us to the multiverse in a big way, it’s also possible that the Matt Murdock in that movie will not be the one who was involved in three seasons of atmospherically lit hallway fights and courtroom battles. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on December 17, but you can see what else comes out soon with our guide to Marvel Phase 4 movies and list of upcoming Marvel TV shows! 

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Believe it or not, Jupiter is nearer than you think. Or, rather, to be more specific, Jupiter's Legacy, the upcoming superhero drama streaming series based on the graphic novels by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, is a bit closer than you might think. We have about two months before this decades-spanning superhero saga debuts on Netflix, but we do know some key details about this much-anticipated show. Here's what we know (so far) about Jupiter's Legacy, which comes from creator Steven S. DeKnight (Daredevil).

Jupiter’s Legacy Premieres On Netflix On May 7

We won't have long to wait to see what Jupiter's Legacy has in store. The first 8-episode season is scheduled to premiere on May 7, 2021, which would be the start of a traditional summer blockbuster season. That release date doesn't seem incidental for that reason. Jupiter's Legacy is slated to be one of Netflix's most high-profile projects this year, which is saying something. The service is definitely looking to drive-up interest and attention for this expensive new program, as we'll discuss in more detail a little bit later.

The Jupiter’s Legacy Cast Includes Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb, And More

When it comes to the cast of Jupiter's Legacy, Netflix assembled a recognizable pair of stars for our lead generation-spanning superheroes. Specifically, Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb will reunite to play Sheldon Sampson, i.e. The Utopian, and Grace Sampson. The former is the leader of the superhero team, The Union, while the latter is considered one of the world's strongest superheroes. Also rounding out the ensemble are Ben Daniels as Walter Sampson, Sheldon's older brother, Elena Kampouris as Chloe Sampson, Grace and Sheldon's daughter, Andrew Horton as Brandon Sampson, Grace and Sheldon's son, Mike Wade as Fitz Small, a valued member of The Union, and Matt Lanter as George Hutchene, Sheldon's closest ally. Additionally, Tenika Davis, Anna Akana, Tyler Mane, and Chase Tang will play either recurring roles or guest stars.

Jupiter’s Legacy Is Based On A 10-Issue Graphic Novel Series From Mark Millar And Frank Quitely

Mark Millar shouldn't be a stranger to movie lovers and/or comic book aficionados. The graphic novelist is known for creating the source material for popular adaptations like Captain America: Civil War, Wanted, Logan, the Kick-Ass movies, and the Kingsman franchise. Additionally, away from the big screen, he wrote the Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Superior, The Authority, and Superman: Red Son. Recently, Millar joined forces with Netflix, and Jupiter's Legacy, based on his 10-issue graphic novel series with Frank Quitely, is one of their first collaborations.

Certainly, Jupiter's Legacy will be a big undertaking, as it is the longest-running graphic novel series under Mark Millar's pen. But hopefully, the author's creative involvement will assure that this new show will reach the same quality as his past film adaptations.

Jupiter's Legacy Is A Decades-Spanning Superhero Drama Navigating The Complex Dynamics Of Power, Family, And Loyalty Of The World’s First Superheroes

Even by superhero standards, Jupiter's Legacy has lofty ambitions. As it was reported in their official press release, Jupiter's Legacy will chronicle a decades-spanning story that follows the world's first superheroes and how they navigate through "the complex dynamics of power, family, and loyalty." Notably, "after nearly a century of keeping mankind safe," the first superhero family "must look to their children to continue the legacy." But it won't be easy when the superpowered children don't exactly live up to the high standards and demanding expectations of their parents, causing a lot of tension.

Sounds like an interesting mix of The Incredibles, Sky High, Watchmen, and Amazon Prime's The Boys. Narratively, Jupiter's Legacy sounds more expansive than any other superhero show in recent memory — especially in live-action. Color us intrigued!

Chase Tang Claims His Role Will Be ‘Something We Haven’t Seen Before’

While we don't know a lot about Chase Tang's role as Supervillain Baryon, we do know that this supporting performance was very meaningful to the actor, and it's one that he believes could be very influential in the years to come. During his appearance on Climate Change with Scott Amyx, Tang discussed the impact of playing an Asian character — specifically an Asian villain — in this hotly-anticipated new streaming series, and how his role in this show could open the door for more Asian representation in the industry, especially in other superhero movies and shows. Likewise, the actor claims there are a lot of surprises in store, which we'll have to discover for ourselves when Jupiter's Legacy premieres on May 7th. Here's what Tang said on this podcast:

Jupiter’s Legacy Was Created By Daredevil’s Steven S. DeKnight (Though He Left The Series Over Creative Differences)

Jupiter's Legacy certainly isn't Netflix's first superhero show. Prior to this series, the streaming service hosted a number of Marvel-based shows, including Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher, and Daredevil. For the latter, Steven S. DeKnight was the showrunner for the first season, and he served as the creator and main creative influence on Jupiter's Legacy... until he called it quits. Leaving over some reported (but unspecified) "creative differences," as Deadline noted, DeKnight did have a hand in this program but don't expect him to stick around for future seasons. He was later replaced by Sang Kyu Kim. Nevertheless, DeKnight wrote both the pilot and the season finale.

Netflix Dropped A Mysterious Teaser For Jupiter’s Legacy In Late February

We haven't gotten a good glimpse at Netflix's hotly anticipated new superhero series just yet, but we've been properly teased for Jupiter's Legacy. In late February, in an effort to drum up its blockbuster-friendly early May release, Netflix dropped the first mysterious teaser trailer, which features a gravely-voiced Josh Duhamel (presumably) providing voice-only narration over symbols, capes, and corridors that will likely only be familiar to those who read the graphic novel series. Of course, some of the imagery is evocative of other well-known superhero properties, but it's clear that Jupiter's Legacy is attempting to establish, well, a legacy of its own. To some unseen superperson, Duhamel claims they'll one day be "stronger than anyone else in the world," and "every evil in the world is gonna rise up against mankind." 

With a lingering threat of "vengeance," this trailer promises that this kin will soon be "the future," thus ushering in a new era of heroes for this superpowered world in this intriguing introduction.

Check out the teaser below:

We Got Our First Look Of The Actors In Character In Early March

In addition to this enticing teaser, Netflix dropped a first look video in early March, which features some colorful stills of our larger-than-life superhero characters. This video provides our first official looks at the characters played by Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb, along with some other notable personalities to boot. Once again, this teaser appears to be directed more at the fans of the comic book property than newcomers. The images of these drawn characters coming to life on-screen might not mean as much if you're unfamiliar with their hand-drawn origins. Nevertheless, it does give us an early glimpse at the show's visual style, costuming, and world-building, showcasing the generations of superheroes that we'll meet throughout this decade-spanning saga. Obviously, we're only getting a few brief peeks at this upcoming show, but Netflix is definitely doing all they can to drive interest towards their latest superhero series.

You can check out this first look video below.

Expectations are certainly sky-high, but we'll have to wait to see if this is Netflix's answer to The Boys. As noted, Jupiter's Legacy Season 1 will premiere on May 7th. You can set a reminder for Jupiter's Legacy on Netflix's site.

The moment that the world feasted its eyes upon the Legendary-produced reboot of Godzilla, nothing was ever going to be the same. With the company also having a hand in bringing the Pacific Rim franchise to life, the crossover potential between the Titans and Kaiju in the MonsterVerse has always been a keen point of discussion for fans to talk out from time to time. Today is no exception, as Pacific Rim: Uprising director Steven DeKnight is stirring the pot in a rather exciting way by revealing his intention to make such a showdown happen.

Steven DeKnight isn’t just blowing smoke here, as the man apparently had a plan for Pacific Rim 3 that would have setup the possibility of Godzilla throwing down with Gipsy Avenger. But, as we saw with the performance of Pacific Rim: Uprising at the box office, those best laid plans never happened. Still, DeKnight took to Twitter with his teasing words of what could have been:

When we last left Pacific Rim: Uprising, the Pan Pacific Defense Corps was about to take the fight to the Precursors after foiling their latest efforts to exterminate all life on Earth through their Kaiju army. Keeping that in mind, there’s a small hint as to how all of this Godzilla madness could have collided with the Pacific Rim universe, and it comes down to a word we all know and love: multiverse. Seeing as Godzilla and Pacific Rim are in the same family on the Legendary lot, all that would have had to happen was for Warner Bros and Universal to have played ball, and a trip across the dimensional rift could have seen Pacific Rim 3 help lead to a knockdown prize fight of epic proportions.

It’s an idea that some folks still want to see happen, as original Pacific Rim architect Guillermo del Toro expressed interest, as a fan, in seeing such things happen. No one’s immune to this particular match-up being employed to rock the world, as seen with the recent reaction to Godzilla vs. Kong’s big trailer rollout. Even we here at CinemaBlend have been happy to build a case for that sort of action to come down the pike, and frankly, it’s hard to imagine anyone who’s into Large Scale Aggressors, and the mechs that fight them, not co-signing such a crossover.

Should Godzilla vs. Kong put up the sort of numbers Warner Bros and Legendary want to see it rack up at the end of March, perhaps there’s a chance that this big world moving crossover could still happen. For now, we’ll just have to be happy that we’ve got a showdown of Titans to look forward to in the near future, and hope that somehow the rift between Pacific Rim and Godzilla opens some fateful day.

The internet is really riled up as of late, especially when it comes to the subject of director’s cuts. Following HBO Max’s announcement that Zack Snyder’s Justice League will become a reality in 2021, any film that has a hint of editing that may have left something out is subjected to a hashtag to release that director’s cut. Pacific Rim Uprising co-writer/director Steven DeKnight is the latest subject of such a push, and he’s flat out admitted to fans that if they’re looking for an alternate “director’s cut,” they’re out of luck.

Interacting with a fan that was trying to get #ReleaseTheDeKnightCut trending, DeKnight himself took to Twitter to state that the cut of Pacific Rim Uprising is definitely the cut that he sides with. That sentiment definitely tracks, as even when promoting the 2018 sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s beloved 2013 original, Steven DeKnight admitted that his initial director’s cut was a bit flabby. Adhering to his believe that the film shouldn’t cross the two-hour mark, DeKnight turned his two hour and 18 minute movie into a leaner, meaner hour and 51 minutes. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t another version of Pacific Rim Uprising that Steven DeKnight has an interest in presenting to the world, as you'll see in the message below:

In that same tweet, he mentioned that he absolutely would love to release the original version of the film’s script into the world, as the initial draft would go through several re-writes to become the finished product we know today. And, of course, any mention of an alternate version of Pacific Rim Uprising wouldn’t be complete without mentioning a scene that DeKnight absolutely wishes he’d included from his first draft, in which Charlie Hunnam’s Raleigh and Rinko Kikuchi’s Mako reunite in an intended “coma-drift sequence.”

This makes for what is probably the second unreleased draft of a Pacific Rim sequel that fans would pay to get their hands on. The other alternate version of Pacific Rim Uprising being, of course, the initial version crafted by Guillermo del Toro and writer Zak Penn, which was junked when the timetable for the second film was accelerated by Legendary’s sale to the Wanda Group. As it’s been two years since the actual continuation of the Pacific Rim series was released into theaters, and there’s been little to no word of whether we’ll get that potentially amazing follow-up promised in the closing moments of Pacific Rim Uprising or not, the release of either of these alternate drafts would be the next best thing.

Pacific Rim’s universe isn’t completely dormant though, as there is the Netflix anime series that’s currently in the works. But even something as simple as a PDF or web comic bringing the originally intended vision for Pacific Rim Uprising to life would be something worth seeing. Though if anyone is seriously thinking about bringing Steven DeKnight’s draft to the masses, it would be a lot cooler to get a comic book and/or script book out of the deal. Consider it a down payment for the future of the Pacific Rim franchise.

It took a little longer than expected to get a Pacific Rim sequel off the ground, but back in March, Pacific Rim Uprising finally arrived in theaters. While it wasn't received quite as critically and commercially well as its 2013 predecessor, Uprising laid the groundwork for another follow-up, but months later, there still hasn't been any word on if Pacific Rim 3 will actually happen. When CinemaBlend's own Sean O'Connell asked director Steven S. DeKnight if a third Jaeger vs. Kaiju tale is on the way, DeKnight said that while nothing is set in stone yet, he wants Pacific Rim 3 to be made, whether he's the one overseeing it or not. DeKnight responded:

Steven S DeKnight inheriting the Pacific Rim directing reins from Guillermo del Toro, but it sounds like even if Pacific Rim 3 does get the green light, he might not necessarily retain that position due to his schedule becoming busier (and might potentially include a God of War movie). Regardless, DeKnight hasn't kept track of Pacific Rim Uprising's box office performance (it only made $290 million worldwide), but he's hopeful that Universal will give this franchise a proper conclusion, though he's also talked in the past about how Pacific Rim 3 could be the springboard for a full-blown shared universe. For now, though, such a decision is out of his hands, and there's no timetable on when Universal will provide a Pacific Rim 3 update.

Warning: SPOILERS for Pacific Rim Uprising are ahead!

Just like with the first movie, Pacific Rim Uprising ended with humanity thwarting another Kaiju invasion. Except this time around, it was characters like John Boyega's Jake Pentecost, Scott Eastwood's Nate Lambert and Cailee Spaeny's Amara Namani who led the charge. However, during the sequel, it was revealed that the Kaiju were created by the Precursors, and at the end of the movie, the imprisoned Precursor Emissary, who had taken over Dr. Newton Geiszler's mind, declared that they would keep attacking Earth until they successfully destroyed it. Jake responded that next time it would be humanity attacking the Precursors, suggesting that Pacific Rim 3 might see our heroes traveling to the Precursor homeworld to take care of these alien menaces once and for all.

Pacific Rim Uprising is now available for digital purchase, and the Blu-ray and DVD copies will hit shelves on June 19. Rest assured, if there's any major news concerning Pacific Rim 3, we here at CinemaBlend will be sure to let you know about it. In the meantime, be sure to look through our 2018 release schedule to learn what other movies are coming out this year.

Earlier this year, one of Sony's premier franchises, God of War, finally released an eagerly anticipated new entry on the Playstation 4. The game, acting as something of a reboot for the series, debuted to huge sales and universal critical acclaim. As with all major video game franchises, especially those with the cinematic qualities of something like God of War, there is always the belief that it could be adapted into a great movie. One person who is a fan of the franchise and wants the job of making it into a movie is Steven S. DeKnight. The Pacific Rim Uprising director even has someone in mind to play the protagonist Kratos: none other than Drax himself, Dave Bautista. Steven S. DeKnight spoke about God of War and Kratos, saying:

It is easy to see why Steven S. DeKnight would pick Dave Bautista for Kratos. The actor probably looks more like the Spartan warrior than any other actor out there. Fans of the game will definitely want whoever plays Kratos to look the part, and a portion of that means having an intimidating physical presence. Kratos walks around shirtless throughout the games with ash white skin, and Dave Bautista is no stranger to playing a character that requires him to be shirtless all the time and covered in makeup. Dave Bautista has also continued to hone his acting chops over time, proving to have be adept at comedy in addition to his obvious action presence.

Depending on which game or which part of his story you adapt, the character of Kratos doesn't necessarily require a ton of range. He is a tragic character and he does have some emotional beats to his tale, but in the majority of the games he is just kind of a jerk that walks around in a state of constant rage killing people. Still, as with any iconic video game character, casting is key because Kratos needs to be a magnetic and charismatic figure that really pops onscreen and draws you into his story. As Steven S. DeKnight told Comicbook.com, there hasn't been a truly successful or great video game movie yet, and making one work is a very tricky process. For any God of War movie, part of the trick is getting the right person to play Kratos.

It's tough to know who would be right for the part without knowing exactly what direction a God of War movie would go. Dave Bautista might work, but personally, I could also see someone like Travis Fimmel from Vikings take on Kratos. His Ragnar Lothbrok looked similar to Kratos, and Travis Fimmel played him with a bit of craziness that I think Kratos needs. Although he already starred in one video game disappointment Warcraft, and I'm not sure he would want to take on another. A different option, and someone that Steven S. DeKnight worked with on the Spartacus TV series, is Manu Bennett. I think the man who played Crixus could bring the right level of intensity to Kratos while also giving him the necessary pathos.

I imagine its only a matter of time before a God of War movie is officially announced, at which point we can all cross our fingers that the right person, perhaps Dave Bautista, plays Kratos, and we finally get a video game movie that 100% delivers. Until then you can catch Dave Bautista's next movie Hotel Artemis, in theaters on June 8.

Back before he was directing big franchise blockbusters like Pacific Rum Uprising, Steven S. DeKnight was the showrunner for Daredevil. He took over for original showrunner Drew Goddard, and only ever worked on Season One of the show before going into development on Pacific Rim Uprising. DeKnight is in pretty deep with that franchise right now, but he wouldn't mind getting to helm a Marvel show again one day. While he's no longer part of Netflix's corner of the MCU, there's one character he would love to turn into a TV show: Moon Knight.

Steven S. DeKnight already got a taste of street-level justice with Season One of Daredevil, but he wouldn't turn down the opportunity to return to that world from the perspective of an entirely different character. While talking to IGN, DeKnight said that he wanted to try his hand at Moon Knight, a character who has yet to appear in the MCU and yet it feels like everybody wants to make his TV show. DeKnight's a busy guy these days, but that's the character he would tackle if he had to return to Marvel superheroes.

For those who may not be familiar, Moon Knight is C-list Marvel character that is nevertheless a favorite among many people. He's a street-level vigilante whose real name is Marc Spector, a former CIA operative-turned-mercenary who was mystically resurrected by the ancient Egyptian moon god Khonshu to serve as his agent of vengeance. In addition to being a skilled fighter, he's also gifted with heightened strength, endurance and reflexes during the night, and his powers are at their peak during a full moon. Moon Knight is also totally crazy and suffers from multiple personality disorder, having taken several different identities over the years. He isn't quite sure if that's due to Khonshu's meddling or if he was always that way.

Moon Knight is one of the most highly demanded Marvel characters to receive their own TV show. Netflix was reportedly in the process of developing one a few years back but there has been no additional news regarding the status of that project. Notably, James Gunn has said he'd love to make a Moon Knight movie, but the future of this character in the MCU is still up in the air.

Stick with CinemaBlend for more TV updates. Keep track of everything coming to Netflix with our handy 2018 TV release guide and everything hitting the streaming giant next month.

As a sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising has an interesting bit of distance from its predecessor. Not only is it set a full decade later, but returning stars are exclusively in supporting roles as new characters (played by John Boyega and Cailee Spaney) show up as the leads. Of course, that doesn't mean writer/director Steven DeKnight didn't still feel the need to deeply reflect on the first film, and he recently explained to me how rewatching the 2013 blockbuster influenced his work:

Steven DeKnight was given a formidable task when he was handed the reins of the Pacific Rim franchise, and earlier this month I had the opportunity to discuss the job with him during the Pacific Rim Uprising Los Angeles press day. Discussing what he got out of rewatching the first movie, DeKnight noted that it inspired him to create a different kind of blockbuster than Guillermo del Toro, focusing less on the scary monster aspect of the universe, and instead more on the fun, brightly-lit action led by youthful characters.

Of course, fidelity to source material is incredibly important in the world of franchise filmmaking, and this was something that Steven DeKnight fully recognized in the making of his feature directorial debut. While he knew that he wanted to change Pacific Rim Uprising tonally compared to its predecessor, he also knew that he wanted to keep all of the original, impressive ideas that made the 2013 blockbuster stand out in the first place -- using the concept of "The Drift" as an example. Said DeKnight,

You can watch Steven DeKnight talk all about his process rewatching the original Pacific Rim -- including its effect on the immensely important international/multicultural aspects of Pacific Rim Uprising -- by clicking play on the video below!

If you're personally a Pacific Rim fan, this is definitely the weekend to give the original a rewatch, as Pacific Rim Uprising is now out everywhere ready for your viewing enjoyment. Give it a look at your local theater, and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interviews with the cast and director of the new blockbuster.

Back in 2013, Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim became the Little Blockbuster That Could. While it had a bit of a slow start at the summer box office, it slowly but surely was able to keep bringing audiences in, and by the time it was done in theaters, it had made over $400 million globally. Now, a little less than five years later, we are now getting a sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising, but if it were up to writer/director Steven DeKnight, this will only be the first follow-up that we see arrive in coming years. He recently told me,

I had the pleasure of sitting down with writer/director Steven DeKnight earlier this month for the Los Angeles press day for Pacific Rim Uprising -- and it was literally at the very end of our conversation that we had the opportunity to chat about the future. Recognizing the level of detail in the movie's world-building, and certain events that go down in the third act, I asked for the filmmaker's thoughts on future installments in the franchise, and he revealed that he has some absolutely massive plans for the universe of Pacific Rim, should he get the opportunity to execute them.

Looking at Steven DeKnight's filmography, this all makes a lot of sense. While the filmmaker has actually made his feature directorial debut with Pacific Rim Uprising, he is hardly new to the industry, having worked for decades in the world of television on shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Spartacus, and the first season of Daredevil. On the small screen, narratives can run for years, with all kinds of twists and turns happening to the characters, and that kind of storytelling generally involves long-term planning. And while there are never any guarantees in the world of theatrical releases, that didn't stop him from thinking about what could be done not only with a Pacific Rim 3, but a whole broad universe of different projects.

You can watch Steven DeKnight talking about the potential future of the Pacific Rim franchise and his thoughts on Pacific Rim 3 by clicking play on the video below!

Pacific Rim 3 will probably only happen if Pacific Rim Uprising is ultimately deemed a success -- and we'll find out the fate of that particular project now, with the film arriving in theaters as we speak. So if you're excited by the idea of a wide-ranging franchise with a whole lot of Jaeger vs. Kaiju action, do yourself a favor and catch the new movie on the big screen this weekend.

Coming in to direct Pacific Rim: Uprising, writer/director Steven DeKnight had some seriously big shoes to fill. Not only was he making his feature debut with the hotly-anticipated sequel, but he was also following-up a film made by one of the industry's most talented auteurs: Guillermo del Toro. That's a whole lot of pressure for anyone to take on -- but there was a silver lining. Working on the project meant DeKnight had the chance to sit down with the Pacific Rim filmmaker, and as he recently told me in an interview, in the process he received some extremely vital advice:

I had the immense pleasure of sitting down with Steven DeKnight earlier this month at the Los Angeles press day for Pacific Rim: Uprising, and it was at the very start of the interview that we discussed the influence of Guillermo del Toro on his new film. It was just days after the Mexican filmmaker won both the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards for his work on The Shape of Water, and it was with that in mind I asked about his role in the making of the new sequel. Because of scheduling he was forced to be mostly hands off, but apparently he did find time to chat with DeKnight about his vision for the sequel, and offered some helpful suggestions to make the whole thing go as easily as possible.

Interestingly, Steven DeKnight meeting Guillermo del Toro was actually the last piece of the puzzle for him when it came to really preparing for Pacific Rim: Uprising. In the early days of the project he earned the approval of Legendary Pictures producers Mary Parent and Thomas Tull -- but he also explained to me that del Toro's approval was massively important, partially because of his own deep appreciation for his art. Said DeKnight,

Click play on the video below to watch Steven DeKnight talk all about his relationship with Guillermo del Toro and the key influence and advice he provided in the making of Pacific Rim: Uprising:

Because Steven DeKnight and Guillermo del Toro are two very different filmmakers, Pacific Rim: Uprising is a change-up from the original -- and you'll soon be able to see it for yourself. After five years of waiting, the blockbuster is arriving on the big screen this Friday, March 23rd -- and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interview with the cast and filmmakers behind the movie!

The blockbuster-filled month of March rolls along this weekend with the release of Pacific Rim Uprising. The sequel to Guillermo del Toro's 2013 film brings us back to the gigantic struggle between the Jaegers and the Kaiju in a movie that looks to have expanded upon the scope, story and action of its predecessor. You might think a clash as epic as this one would necessitate a long runtime, but that was apparently not the case. Apparently Pacific Rim Uprising actually had a bit of fat to trim initially, as director Steve DeKnight explained:

Pacific Rim Uprising clocks in at 111 minutes versus the 131-minute runtime of Pacific Rim. It sounds like there was a lot in the script and plenty enough to fill a 2 and a half hour movie, but that cut was a little bloated. The first film dragged in some parts, so this slimmer runtime might indicate a more efficiently-paced story. Director's cuts are often longer than what we see in theaters; that's what double-dip Blu-rays are for after all, but the near half hour removed from Steven S. DeKnight's cut is a healthy chunk. The sequel will have to do a little bit of exposition and reframing since we're following new characters, so hopefully this runtime still allows for a proper introduction to reacquaint everyone with this universe and what happened between the last film and this one.

Steven DeKnight does come from the television world and is used to working with a much more constrained timeframe for individual episodes. While shows like Daredevil and Spartacus gave him whole seasons to craft a complete arc, he still had to break that down into episodic chapters, which ideally makes him well suited to know how to tell a tight story that discards anything extraneous. The editing process often involves parting with things you love but the way, Steven S. DeKnight makes it sound, what was cut from Pacific Rim Uprising was cut for a good reason.

The only thing that gives me pause about Steven S. DeKnight's comments to Uproxx is that he says when he signed onto Pacific Rim Uprising, he didn't think it should be over two hours. Sometimes less is more, but I don't love the idea that he or the studio had the 'keep it under two hours' mindset going in. Hopefully the cut we see in theaters is a tight action film and the best version of this story, but we have seen in the past where runtimes are shaved to meet a mandate, and the film suffers for it. On the flip side, there are plenty of blockbuster films that could have used a more spartan editing approach.

Pacific Rim Uprising went through quite a journey to the big screen, including a director switch, changing the ending and replacing the main character, but you can't keep a good Jaeger down, and it is finally here. Pacific Rim Uprising stomps its way into theaters on March 23. For all the biggest movies hitting theaters this year, check out our release schedule.

Recently, writer and director Steven DeKnight was asked by a fan if he would be interested in directing Man of Steel 2 and while his answer wasn't "yes," it did get people talking. He responded with a simple "up, up and away" on Twitter, which certainly seemed to indicate an interest in the concept, but recently the Daredevil writer followed-up to specify who he'd actually like to see direct the forthcoming Superman sequel, the same person who directed the first one. According to DeKnight...

If "up, up and away" wasn't meant to express some interest in the idea of directing Man of Steel 2, then it's not clear what exactly Steven DeKnight did mean. The question posed to him was clearly a hypothetical one, and his answer was just as hypothetical. Still, the fact that he might be interested is of value, considering the fact that at this point, we have no idea what's going on with Man of Steel 2, including who will direct it. While the film has been officially announced, there's no timeframe on when it will go into production. Matthew Vaughn has been previously rumored as a possible director for the film, but those rumors were months ago and we've heard very little recently, beyond the fact that the film is still in thestory pitching stage.

There are clearly many Zack Snyder fans who would love to see him return to Man of Steel, Steven DeKnight is only one of them, and the idea isn't entirely outside the realm of plausibility. The DC film universe is currently undergoing a significant change with a new president taking over behind the scenes. The fact is that we don't really know what Snyder has planned next, but since Man of Steel 2 will almost certainly pick up where Justice League left off, having Snyder continue that story while other directors work on other characters isn't the craziest idea in the world.

While Zack Snyder could potentially be looking for a break from directing DC films, the fact that Man of Steel 2 is a couple of years away at a minimum could mean that down the road he could be ready to take on Superman once again. Of course, there are likely other candidates who are probably just as interested and if Steven DeKnight was actually approached, who knows, he might be one of them.

In the short term, however, Steven DeKnight is busy putting the finishing touches on Pacific Rim: Uprising, which is set to hit screens later this year.

Some significant changes are taking place in the DCEU, many of which are worth getting excited about. Following the lackluster critical and commercial reception to Justice League, it looks like the DC slate has been shuffled once more, and the sequel to Man of Steel has returned as one of the potential projects to watch out for. No director has been announced for the film just yet, but now it seems that Marvel Cinematic Universe alum and Pacific Rim Uprising director Steven S. DeKnight wants to take Henry Cavill's Superman into Man of Steel 2. Responding to a fan question about his interest, DeKnight took to Twitter and wrote:

That's not a direct "yes" answer to the question, but it's hard to not assume that a classic Superman catchphrase implies a desire to take the reins on Man of Steel 2. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that he will get the job. Plenty of directors have shown interest in projects that never came to fruition over the years, but it's an intriguing development for a sequel that has thus far flown under the radar in the DCEU.

Steven S. DeKnight already has plenty of experience dealing in the world of superheroes -- albeit on the other side of the aisle in the MCU. Specifically, he was a producer and writer on the first season of Netflix's Daredevil, which is still widely regarded by many fans as one of The Defenders universe's best seasons to date.

As far as feature filmmaking experience goes, Steven DeKnight doesn't have much credit to his name, but his first foray into the realm of blockbuster directing will likely prove whether or not he can handle something as massive and intense as a Superman movie. In addition to his work in The Defenders universe with Daredevil, he is also currently gearing up to launch his directorial debut in the form of Pacific Rim Uprising -- which is set to debut in theaters later this year on March 23.

Steven DeKnight isn't the only filmmaker whose name has been thrown around for Man of Steel 2. In addition to DeKnight's tweet, a few possibilities have been suggested over the course of the last few months, with X-Men: First Class helmer Matthew Vaughn consistently popping up as a potential favorite to get the job. One thing is clear: plenty of critical details for Man of Steel 2 remain up in the air, and will likely stay that way for quite some time.

That said, we will bring you more information related to the project as new details break. For now, hop over to our movie premiere guide to see what films are set to debut in 2018; in the realm of the DCEU, James Wan's Aquaman is next on deck, with a release date set for December 21, 2018.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an ever expanding place. In addition to the blockbusters that arrive every few months, there is also a ton of great content being produced for the small screen-- the best of which are produced over at Netflix. The streaming service's MCU shows all started with Daredevil, which debuted in 2015. Steven DeKnight was the showrunner during its triumphant first season, before eventually departing the series before the sophomore go. Season 2 was still a winner, but wasn't quite as beloved as DeKnight's tenure running the show. But would he ever return for more Marvel projects? One fan asked him this via social media, and his response seemed fairly cut and dry.

Do you hear that? It's the sound of countless Marvel fans cheering for joy. It looks like the OG Daredevil boss would be willing to play within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, should the right project and his schedule allow.

Steven DeKnight's comment is sure to be exciting for fans of the MCU's small screen adventures. The first season of Daredevil is what many consider to be the strongest TV adventure of the shared universe, and the best Marvel/Netflix partnership until possibly Jon Bernthal's The Punisher. Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez took over with a second season that introduced new characters and showed a more capable title character, but watching Matt Murdock's origin story and ascension into power was second to none.

It should be interesting to see how Marvel's Netflix shows change with the upcoming new seasons of the four heroes' shows. With The Defenders now in the rear view, the characters have all crossed over, potentially opening up the heroes to more possibilities and team-ups in the future. While Jessica Jones seems to be wholly focused on everyone's favorite alcoholic private investigator, the second season of Luke Cage will feature at least one appearance by Danny Rand.

Of course, Stephen DeKnight's schedule is a bit busy, which may make it difficult for him to return to the MCU in a large capacity. He directed the upcoming blockbuster Pacific Rim Uprising, working alongside the visionary Guillermo del Toro. He's also involved in the writer's room for the Transformers universe, so DeKnight has quite a few projects on his plate. But with with spinoffs like The Punisher possible, perhaps one specific character will inspire the producer/director to return to the Marvel side of things.

The first two season of Daredevil are currently streaming on Netflix, and you can catch Stephen DeKnight's big screen directing debut when Pacific Rim Uprising arrives March 23rd, 2018. In the meantime, check out our midseason premiere list to plan your next binge watch, and check if your favorite show has gotten the chop this year with our cancellation list.

As you would expect, the world in the Pacific Rim universe was completely changed with the arrival of the destructive monsters called as Kaiju. The technology and pilots behind the Jaeger program were able to stop the creatures and close the portal to their dimension, but still years later people aren't sure how to feel about it, and fear what the future could hold. This is an important aspect of the setting in director Steven DeKnight's upcoming Pacific Rim Uprising, but as we learned from producer Cale Boyter on the set of the sequel earlier this year, there are a number of layers to that atmosphere. Said Boyter,

Pacific Rim Uprising completed its production in Sydney, Australia earlier this year, and it was on a weekday in January that I joined a small group of other journalists to visit the set, observe filming, and do interviews with the cast and filmmakers. We had a lot of time with Cale Boyter, who is a producer at Legendary Pictures, and he did a great job breaking down how the world has changed between the events of Guillermo del Toro's movie and Steven DeKnight's.

As we learned in Pacific Rim, the operation of the giant robots known as Jaegers isn't exactly simple. The size of the enemy dictates that they be so big that they require two pilots to operate -- but they aren't exactly using buttons and dials. Instead, the two individuals in the cockpit (or Conn-Pod) are mentally linked through what's called The Drift, and the Jaeger directly responds to their shared actions. This is obviously a rather intense process, so you can totally understand why a company might think that the future is operating the machines as drones. But just like many having the debate in the military today, there is an argument that drones simply cannot be as effective as trained pilots at the wheel.

It's worth noting that this dispute continues despite the fact that the world has not actually seen a Kaiju attack in nearly 10 years. As the trailers for Pacific Rim Uprising show, however, those who are constantly paranoid about their return very much turn out to be correct -- and it turns out to be a very good thing that the Jaeger program was kept alive and that new pilots were consistently being trained.

On that note, it's worth noting that the Jaeger technology has also continued to evolve in that same time frame, and the new creations are sporting some fun toys that the world has never seen before. Head on over to Page 2 to find out more about what we learned on the Pacific Rim 2 set!

Fans were introduced to some amazing Jaeger designs in the first Pacific Rim, such as the legendary Gipsy Danger and the three-armed Crimson Typhoon, but director Steven DeKnight and producer Cale Boyter told us that particular game was being stepped up in Pacific Rim Uprising. At the time they couldn't tell us too much about what they were cooking up, but they did tease some unique special abilities for each one.

While we were sitting down with Cale Boyter, Steven DeKnight used one of his breaks during production to come over and speak with us as well. During that conversation, we asked about what we could expect from the new designs in the Pacific Rim sequel, and the filmmakers teased,

John Boyega, who stars as Jake Pentecost in Pacific Rim Uprising, also added his two cents to the conversation when we spoke to him alone later in the day. Using video game terminology, he also noted that each of the new designs have a special trick up their sleeve. Discussing his own ride, Gipsy Danger, Boyega said,

Fans have been waiting years for a return to the world of Pacific Rim, but that time is almost at an end. Pacific Rim Uprising is schedule to arrive in theaters in early 2018 -- on March 23rd to be exact -- and you should definitely stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more of our coverage from the set.

After a few years of failed starts, a new Pacific Rim movie is on the way-- but it does come with some caveats. The biggest loss to the sequel was Guillermo del Toro, director and creator of the original movie who was unable to come back for Pacific Rim: Uprising. Steven S. DeKnight stepped in to helm the sequel starring John Boyega, but that doesn't mean that del Toro didn't contribute. Del Toro still served an important role in getting the sequel off the ground, and frequently collaborated with notes and developing the script.

Guillermo del Toro may not have been able to direct the sequel to his Monsters vs Robots geekfest, but he still had a voice in the making of Pacific Rim: Uprising. While talking to ComingSoon, producer Cale Boyter revealed that del Toro was involved in the creative process, which ranged from giving notes on the various drafts of the script to weighing in on the designs for the new Jaegers and Kaiju. He also apparently really loved John Boyega, but honestly, who doesn't?

This should hopefully be good news for skeptical fans of the original Pacific Rim. Some have voiced their opinions that Pacific Rim: Uprising looks more like a Transformers movie than a Pacific Rim movie. Those concerns are understandable; Guillermo del Toro has a unique voice and vision, and that went a long way in establishing the look and feel of the super nerdy Pacific Rim. Knowing that he at least had a voice in the sequel could ease any worries people may have. If it makes you feel any better, del Toro is getting major Oscar buzz for his next film, The Shape of Water, so he's going to be doing alright.

Pacific Rim: Uprising is set several years after the events of the first film and follows Jake Pentecost, the son of Idris Elba's character from the first movie. There hasn't been an attack since the breach was closed, but when the enemy suddenly arises, Jake will have to pilot Gipsy Avenger and lead a new generation of pilots to stop the apocalypse...again.

Pacific Rim: Uprising is set to hit theaters on March 23, 2018. To learn about what 2017 still has to offer, here's what's coming to theaters for the rest of the year.

In the Pacific Rim universe, piloting a Jaeger is no easy feat. Because of the massive size of the machine, it's not a job that can be handled by one person alone, and all of these operators have to be neurologically compatible in The Drift -- a technologically-created shared mental space that allows a pilot to see the entire mind of their partner. A side effect of this is that the work is made harder if you're carrying a lot of emotional issues... but in Steven DeKnight's upcoming sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising, the world has found a fix for that. As explained by producer Cale Boyter,

I learned a ton about Pacific Rim Uprising back in January, when I joined a very small group of other reporters to fly out to Sydney, Australia and visit the set of the film while it was still in production. One of the big things that was discussed during interviews was the fact that the sequel is skewing a bit younger, particularly with the introduction of Cailee Spaeny's character, Amara, and it turns out that it fits into a much bigger element of the Pacific Rim world. As Cale Boyter explained, one of the big initiatives moving forward in the story is an attempt to mobilize younger Jaeger pilots, as they have a tendency to operate a bit better while functioning in The Drift.

As noted by the producer, Pacific Rim Uprising is set a full 10 years after the events of the first movie, and finds a world that is conflicted regarding the recent historical events. While the last decade has been free from any attacks from the interdimensional monsters known as Kaiju, there is still a lingering fear that they will find a way to return to Earth. Because of this, the Jaeger program is kept active, and new initiatives are created. One example is the Hopefuls -- which is a group that the young protagonist Amara will wind up joining through the course of the movie.

Before that happens in the movie, however, it should be recognized that the character manages to accomplish something rather amazing. Amara is a 15-year-old orphan who has been forced to learn to survive by being on her own, and develops a knack for engineering as a result. She builds her very own diminutive Jaeger that she names Scrapper, and what's most amazing about it is that she can actually operate it all by herself. Clearly this makes her an excellent fit for the Hopefuls program, but speaking to Cailee Spaeny on set, she explained that Amara's incredible technological breakthrough is actually kind of lost on her. Said the actress,

Pacific Rim Uprising will introduce the world to its new class of young Jaeger pilots when it arrives in theaters on March 23, 2018 -- and between now and then, be sure to stay tuned for more coverage from our visit to the set!

As awesome as it often is, Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim is a film that is definitely not without its faults. Take, for example, the big action sequences, where piloted robots called Jaegers take on giant interdimensional aliens called Kaiju. Badass as these sequences are, there is definitely a disconnect between what's going on outside, and what's happening to the pilots, and it ultimately has an effect on their stakes. This is an issue that the upcoming sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising, is actually tackling head on, as producer Cale Boyter told us when we visited the set earlier this year:

Back in January, I joined three other reporters flying to Sydney, Australia to visit the set of director Steven DeKnight's Pacific Rim Uprising while it was still in production, and we had the pleasure of hanging out with Cale Boyter a lot during the day. The filmmaker was very open and honest about how the sequel is building on what was established with the first film, and part of that was addressing how the follow-up would be fixing certain issues. After noting that part of the movie's larger story would involve bringing in younger pilots, and discussing the action in the cockpit of the Jaegers (known as Conn-Pods), he specifically explained how the new movie would make it feel like the pilots are more directly in the action.

So what is the answer to making it feel like the pilots are inside the Jaegers doing battle and not just in some far-away control room? As you can see from the image at the top of the article -- taken from the teaser trailer -- one big part of it is the use of holograms. What is happening to the Jaeger the pilots are controlling will be specifically represented as CGI projected inside of the Conn-Pod. Cale Boyter explained,

While Pacific Rim has some great Kaiju vs. Jaeger battles, even the biggest die-hard fans will understand what the producer is saying here. There was some unquestionably amazing production design at work in the movie, and the whole concept behind the operation of the giant robots is great, but it did sometimes create the look of Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) using equipment at the gym. Pacific Rim Uprising looks like it will be taking those ideas and upgrading them to give the audience a better experience watching the Jaeger pilots work.

After years of waiting, Pacific Rim Uprising, starring John Boyega, Cailee Spaeny, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, and Rinko Kikuchi, is almost here. Thanks to our wonderful, extensive interviews with the movie's cast and filmmakers on set, we have tons more to share from the experience, so be on the lookout for that, and prepare for the blockbuster's theatrical arrival on March 23, 2018.

While Pacific Rim is a property that feels like it always had franchise potential, the reality is that the first movie didn't exactly leave any clear path to a sequel. The heroes of the Guillermo del Toro-directed blockbuster successfully defeated the Kaiju with a good amount of sacrifice, but didn't really leave audiences with a big, dangling cliffhanger. This may have fans wondering exactly how it is that the upcoming Pacific Rim Uprising will be able to continue the story, but director Steven DeKnight laid out how it could all happen when we spoke to him on the set of the film:

Back in January, I was part of a very small group of reporters -- four in all -- who were given the incredible opportunity to fly out to Sydney, Australia and visit the set of Pacific Rim Uprising while it was still in the middle of production. In addition to observing filming (and standing inside the Conn-Pod of the redesigned Gipsy Avenger), we also had the pleasure of talking to the cast and filmmakers -- and it was while interviewing Steven DeKnight that we learned how the sequel picks up from the events featured at the end of its 2013-released predecessor.

Pacific Rim Uprising is set 10 years after the events of the first movie, and as the director pointed out, the timing has led to a tense atmosphere around the globe. While Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) were certainly successful in closing the inter-dimensional breach that led to the original alien invasion, people know that the other dimension is still out there, and there remains the looming question of whether or not another invasion will begin again. It's this fear that keeps the Jaeger program alive and funded -- and it's a good thing, because as the upcoming film will show, the Kaiju are definitely making their way back for vengeance.

And, of course, you can get a taste of that vengeance watching the action-packed trailer that was released in the last few weeks:

Pacific Rim Uprising, which stars John Boyega, Cailee Spaeny, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, and Rinko Kikuchi, is still a few months away from hitting theaters -- set to arrive on March 23, 2018 -- but don't you fret. We'll have plenty more coverage from our visit to the set here for you in the coming days, so stay tuned!

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an ever expanding place. And besides the silver screen adventures that are released every few months, there's also a ton of great TV content- the best of which is produced over at Netflix. And with The Defenders miniseries now in the rear view mirror, the time has come to look forward to the future of Netflix's Marvel shows. With The Punisher likely arriving before the end of the year, could another spinoff be developed as well? Daredevil's former showrunner Steven DeKnight seems to think so, and has the perfect character to flesh out in a miniseries.

Do you hear that? It's the sound of Marvel fans everywhere screaming yes. Wilson Fisk is one of the most fascinating aspects of Daredevil as a series, and giving the Kingpin a chance to have his own story told would be a great way of pleasing both the fandom and actor Vincent D'Onofrio. And according to Stephen DeKnight, he's ready to produce the project.

Fisk is particularly interesting because of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's sordid history with its villains. Most foes show up for just one movie or season, and are promptly killed off or written out of the shared universe. While there are exceptions like Tom Hiddleston's Loki, Marvel's villain problem is one of the MCU's most common criticisms.

Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk was another story entirely. Because TV shows are far longer than big screen blockbusters, Daredevil had the luxury of taking its time and fleshing out Fisk over the course of Daredevil's first season. We learned of his childhood abuse, his murder of his father, and saw his softer side through his relationship with Vanessa. What resulted is one of the MCU's most fascinating villains. He eventually showed up for a few appearances in Daredevil's second season, although he was noticeably absent in The Defenders. But if Kingpin were given his own miniseries, fans could get the Fisk fix they've been craving.

Of course, Steven DeKnight's interest in a Wilson Fisk minsieries doesn't mean it's anywhere close to becoming a reality. DeKnight might have been Daredevil's showrunner in Season 1, but he stepped down in the show's sophomore season. As such, it's not clear if he's going to remain involved in future Netflix/Marvel shows in the future, which would be necessary in order to for him to get involved in a Kingpin series. But considering that Vincent D'Onofrio has been eager to step back into the role in any way possible, it doesn't seem totally out the question

Daredevil's first two seasons are currently available on Netflix. And be sure to check our fall premiere list to plan your next binge watch.

In the world of Pacific Rim, It's been 10 years since Gipsy Danger and the PPDC closed the Breach. In that time, Jaeger technology has taken some immense leaps, going from lumbering titans to swift athletic figures. That's a good thing, because the Kaiju haven't exactly been doing nothing for a decade. The aliens on the other side are likely not happy with their defeat, and when the Kaiju return, they'll be a force to be reckoned with. I asked Steven S. DeKnight, the director of Pacific Rim Uprising, if the Kaiju have improved themselves at all in this time. Here's what he said:

If only the Jaegers had advanced in 10 years, then it wouldn't make for an exciting fight! Fans can look forward to new and improved Kaiju battling with a new generation of Jaeger pilots, and they've had a decade to rethink their plan. Steven S. DeKnight wasn't able to get into specifics about all the new Kaiju powers, but fans have already seen a few teases.

The first trailer showed off a lot of new footage of Pacific Rim Uprising, and this includes some quick shots of the Kaiju menace. The big talking point is the tease of an enormous Kaiju that towers over Gipsy Avenger and its allies. His size is definitely something to be worried about, but it also looks like he might be stitching himself together (this is really hard to tell, though). If that is what's actually happening, then it means Kaiju can heal now, which essentially triples their threat level.

But new powers aren't all the ways the Kaiju have been enhanced by their creators. After all, these beasts are just bioweapons made by an alien race of conquerors to wipe out humanity. The thing with that, though, is that there are probably one million more effective ways to wipe out a species than making specific giant monsters. Steven S. DeKnight knows this and teased that these aliens might have a different agenda than the characters think. He continued:

Considering that Pacific Rim Uprising could be sparking a new franchise, it makes sense that the aliens have a more complicated long game than "Let's smash em' up real good." We'll learn how all this unfolds when the sequel premieres on March 23, 2018. In the meantime, check out we know so far about the blockbuster.

Fans of giant monster fights were in for a treat today with the release of the first trailer for Pacific Rim Uprising. The colorful sequel teased plenty of intense action between the heroic Jaegers and the monstrous Kaiju, with all-new Jaegers making their debut in the movie. But that's what we expected to see. Maybe the biggest surprise of the trailer came from a quick snippet of Gipsy Avenger fighting a mysterious black Jaeger. That's a pretty big deal in the world of Pacific Rim, so when I spoke with director Steven S. DeKnight at New York Comic Con, it was the first question I had to ask. Here's what he was able to say about the Jaeger-on-Jaeger battle:

Obviously, Steven S. DeKnight wasn't able to tell me the specifics of the situation, but it sounds like Jaeger's aren't exclusively for the good guys anymore. Pacific Rim Uprising takes place 10 years after the events of the first movie. In that time, humanity has enjoyed a time of relative peace (compared to what they had to deal with before, at least) and have greatly advanced the technology of the Jaegers -- we're talking gravity beams and holograms here! Problem is, that technology has found its way into the wrong hands.

Some may remember that in the first film there were Kaiju Cultists -- people who saw the Kaiju as a punishment for mankind's sins and despised the Jaegers. There is also a black market for Kaiju organs and body parts, a resource that was likely lacking over these past 10 years. It stands to reason that these groups have a lot to gain with the reemergence of the Kaiju and would want to stop the PPDC from, you know, killing them all.

As for the sword-wielding Jaeger itself, Steven S. DeKnight was able to tell me that the robot's name has not been revealed yet, BUT you might be able to find it if you scour your toy store shelves soon.

People are now capable of building their own Jaegers in Uprising and some nefarious group has used this technology for themselves. We don't know the exact specifics or the probably really cool name of the mystery black Jaeger, but they are definitely human and definitely bad. John Boyega's character Jake Pentecost will be involved in some underworld dealings when the movie opens, so could he have a connection to the evil Jaeger? I wouldn't rule it out.

Pacific Rim Uprising seems to have everything people loved about the first movie: big, unique robots and literally huge fight scenes. This time around, monsters aren't the only enemy. The sequel is scheduled to hit theaters on March 23, 2018. Until then, learn everything you can about the blockbuster with our comprehensive guide.

For a long time, Pacific Rim 2 didn't look like it would ever see the light of day, but those worries are long behind. The sequel, officially titled Pacific Rim: Maelstrom, is in the middle of principal photography, and to get moviegoers even more excited for what it holds in store, director Steven DeKnight just posted a picture that has piqued our interest. Check it out!

Releasing the photo on his social media pages, Steven DeKnight posted the above picture of himself in front of a mysterious door on set that looks like it's the entrance to a vault. However, he wasn't willing to disclose what lay beyond, writing that we'll have to see _Pacific Rim: Maelstrom _to learn the answer. What a tease! Off topic, but am I the only one who thinks it's cool how DeKnight's arm tattoos kind of match the design of that door? It's just me? Okay, moving on.

With Pacific Rim: Maelstrom still over a year away from release, it's interesting that Steven DeKnight decided to flat-out tell fans now that they'll have to wait until actually the movie to find out what's being that elaborate-looking door. That means there's no hope of DeKnight revealing the contents within in another social media post later in the shoot, let alone a shot in one of the trailers showing that door being fully open. What could be in there? Some kind of Jaeger? A miniature Kaiju? Charlie Hunnam chained to the wall against his will because he refused to reprise his role from the first movie? By all means, feel free to speculate in the comments below about what you think could be in there.

While Pacific Rim: Maelstrom plot details are being kept under the proverbial lock and key (much like whatever is behind that door), the movie has publicly announced most of its cast. Of all the main actors, only Star Wars: The Force Awakens' John Boyega has been provided character details, as he'll play the son of Idris Elba's character, Stacker Pentecost. The rest of the cast includes Suicide Squad's Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona, Karan Brar and Nick Tarabay, the latter of whom worked with Steven DeKnight on the Spartacus TV series. There's no word on whether any of the actors from 2013's Pacific Rim (which hauled in over $410 million worldwide) will return for the sequel. Whatever is in store, one thing is guaranteed: moviegoers will be seeing more Kaiju vs. Jaeger action in different parts of the globe.

Pacific Rim: Maelstrom hits theaters on February 23, 2018.

Just when you'd given up hope on ever seeing them again, the Kaiju and Jaegers from Pacific Rim have risen from the dusts of delay, and been put back on the active roster of Legendary Pictures' many future projects. Unfortunately, this cinematic necromancy has come at the cost of the director's chair, as Guillermo del Toro is letting someone else take his epic universe of monsters and mechas out for the second time around. 

The news was just broken by The Wrap, who states that Guillermo del Toro will remain a producer on the newly revived sequel. Taking his place in the director's chair is Steven S. DeKnight, the man who recently vacated the show-runner post on Marvel's successful Netflix series, Daredevil. No word has been issued yet on what the new release date would be, whether Universal would still be distributing, or if any re-writes will be made to the script that was turned into the studio brass last year. 

Surprise is the word of the night, as this item involving the return of Pacific Rim 2 has come out of nowhere, coming from a source close to the project. The biggest question this revival has us asking is just what happened behind the scenes that made the previously dumped project a going concern. This may have been due to Guillermo del Toro ceding the director's chair to someone that the studio may have felt was more marketable, thus securing a budget and a strategy for production. Thankfully, Uncle Guillermo was involved with the selection process for his Pacific Rim 2 successor, as he teased the announcement earlier this evening, and provided the following supplement to the recent news:

Seeing Pacific Rim 2 moving forward is an excellent development, while still being a little bittersweet at the same time. This film is obviously Guillermo del Toro's baby, and seeing him hit with setback after setback was pretty sad during the slow march towards the sequel's holding pattern. But this was a possibility that del Toro had prepared fans for, as he'd previously stated that he still had faith that the film would happen.

On the bright side, with a director like Steven S. DeKnight in the mix, it does bring two new factors to Pacific Rim 2 that could help it in the end: a fresh perspective, and another successful name to hang its hat on. Here's hoping that the second chapter in the Pacific Rim series helps keep the franchise in the game, lending itself to the rich universal expansion that its creator feels it deserves. Besides, if Pacific Rim 2 is in safe hands, then this leave Guillermo del Toro to tackle Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. If that's not a win, we don't know what is!

Hell’s Kitchen is about to get itself a second vigilante. When Netflix’s Daredevil returns for Season 2, the eponymous hero will have to contend with Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, played by Fury’s Jon Bernthal. Excitement was rampant when Punisher was announced, especially since many fans have been waiting to see him in the MCU following Marvel reacquiring the rights from Lions Gate Entertainment in 2010. Details are still scarce on precisely what this iteration of Punisher will be like, but according to former Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight, this will be the most faithful interpretation of the character seen in live action.

Despite not being the guy in charge anymore, DeKnight is still privy to what’s happening with Daredevil’s future, and during an interview with Slash Film, he mentioned that the series will provide fans with the most “Marvel” Punisher yet. According to DeKnight:

Daredevil Season 1 proved that Netflix is a safe haven for Marvel to tell darker stories not appropriate for their younger audiences, which is why it’s the perfect place to introduce the MCU’s Punisher, who, just like his comic book counterpart, has no problems massacring criminals on his unique mission of justice. Plus, depending on the reception he gets from fans and critics next year, there’s always the possibility that Netflix could give Punisher a spinoff series so he can go adventuring on his own.

However, if you enjoyed the heavy violence and brutality of the previous Punisher films (especially 2008’s Punisher: War Zone), DeKnight did warn that Bernthal’s Punisher won’t be as graphic as his cinematic counterparts.

Daredevil and Punisher have a long history of fighting each other in the comics, and that will continue in live-action with their fight supposedly being the primary conflict in Season 2. Punisher was the first new character to be announced for Daredevil’s second season, and he will be joined by Matt Murdock’s old flame Elektra, played by Elodie Yung.

Daredevil Season 2 will air on Netflix sometime in 2016.

The Transformers franchise never needs to lower its head in shame when it comes to its drawing power at the box office, having collectively made Paramount billions over four entries. Yet, it’s a different story when it comes to deep narratives that stand the test of time. Thus, the studio has corralled a number of prominent writers from the worlds of film and television with designs to ensure that this insanely profitable IP continues its world-wrecking ways at the ticket counters.

One of the television creative all-stars tapped by Paramount to participate in the Transformers Writers Room is Steven S. DeKnight, a writer and executive producer for Marvel’s acclaimed Daredevil series. Having already participated in this amazing Autobot collaboration in which the future of the cinematic robots in disguise was mapped out, DeKnight emerged from the experience with nothing but praise for Paramount’s creative ambitions. At the Television Critics Association presser, as reported by Collider, DeKnight comments:

The franchise’s last entry in 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction managed to prove that the film series still had plenty of spark left with its $1.1 billion global take; $320 million of which came from the burgeoning movie market in China, where it became the highest grossing film ever in that country. Yet, it was clear to Paramount that in order to continue churning out the world-crushing carnage in a continually lucrative form across multiple movies, a compellingly dramatic endoskeleton of a storyline needed to be crafted by people who actually know how to patiently tell a great story. In that regard, the studio spared no expense by tapping an eclectic array of talent; notably some masters of long-term, slow-burn fiction in the world of television.

Culling a variety of talents from television and film with some up-and-coming unknowns, the mandate of the Writers Room’s meetings was to create compelling drama while likely navigating the franchise’s necessary components. Headed by producer, Akiva Goldsmith, the group was put together with names like Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Zak Penn (The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk), Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (X-Men, Iron Man), Jeff Pinker (Lost), Gabriel Ferrari and Andrew Barrer (Ant-Man), Lindsey Beer (Short Circuit reboot), Christina Hodson (Shut In), Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down), Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Hibernation, an unproduced Black List script), and of course, the aforementioned DeKnight, himself. Apparently, even Steven Spielberg dropped in one day to be a fly on the wall amongst the excitement.

While the Transformers films were monolithic moneymakers, intricate storylines and compelling pathos are attributes that we can safely say they do not possess. Consequently, the Writers Room clearly had their work cut out for them. While DeKnight was obviously unable to divulge what ultimately manifested from these massive meetings, he seems generally satisfied by the experience. That idea might be met incredulously from moviegoers who are generally weary from Michael Bay’s "giant robots wrecking the world" genre, but it’s possible that this colossal collaboration served as a serious turning point to be witnessed when Transformers 5 finally takes shape.

This past weekend, Rachel McAdams confirmed that she has indeed had talks with Marvel Studios about a potential role in Scott Derrickson's upcoming Doctor Strange... but what has remained a mystery has been the exact part for which she has been rumored. One possibility that we threw out was Clea, the niece and close disciple of Dormammu and a romantic interest for Doctor Strange, but now there is some evidence that could suggest that she is instead playing Linda Carter - a character in Marvel Comics who also goes by the moniker Night Nurse.

This theory has been spurred on by recent comments made by Daredevil Season 1 showrunner Stephen DeKnight. While on stage at a Television Critics Association presentation this afternoon, DeKnight was asked about why Rosario Dawson's character - who basically serves as Night Nurse on the Netflix series - is not named Linda Carter, but instead Claire Temple. He responded, according to SlashFilm,

From this we know that Marvel Studios' movies division is planning to use Linda Carter in an upcoming film - and it's ComingSoon that connects the dots to the character potentially being introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe via Doctor Strange. The site notes that Carter was reintroduced to Marvel Comics thanks to Brian Michael Bendis' "Daredevil" run in 2004, but more significantly points out that she played a major role in an acclaimed "Doctor Strange" miniseries released a few years later. In Brian K. Vaughn's "Doctor Strange: The Oath," the Sorcerer Supreme and Carter team up to try and find a cure for cancer so that Strange can heal his dying assistant, Wong. By the end of the run, the two heroes became romantically linked. Adding a bit more tinder to this fire is the fact that Marvel is planning to reprint this miniseries as a giveaway this Halloween.

As of now, Rachel McAdams isn't attached to star in Doctor Strange, though the movie is already assembling an incredibly talented lineup - including Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular master of magic, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, and Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One. Jon Spaihts penned the screenplay, and the plan is to have production begin this fall in London. The blockbuster is set to be the 2016-release cousin of Joe and Anthony Russo's Captain America: Civil War, but we still have quite a while to see it, as it isn't scheduled for theatrical release until November 4, 2016.

Do you think it's possible that Rachel McAdams could play Linda Carter in Doctor Strange, or do you have a theory of your own? Feel free to share in the comments below.

The folks behind Transformers have spent the last few weeks assembling a writing team that will guide the franchise into the future, and while there are already some big names involved, today the group got just a little bit bigger. This is because new reports have identified Daredevil Season 1 showrunner Steven S. DeKnight as the latest writer to join the brain trust.

News of this new addition comes to us from Deadline, which adds that DeKnight will be the final writer added to what is expected to be a rather influential group. Unfortunately, no further details are available about this development - though he joins a long list of other talented names. In addition to the newcomer, the assembled group includes:

Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind)

Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead)

Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (Iron Man)

Zak Penn (Pacific Rim 2)

Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)

Christina Hodson (Black List script The Eden Project)

Lindsey Beer (the upcoming Short Circuit reboot)

Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man)

Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down)

Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Black List script Hibernation)

Steven DeKnight earned an incredible amount of acclaim earlier this year for his work guiding the first season of Daredevil - though that project was hardly his first opportunity to work with geek-centric material. He spent many years guiding the popular Spartacus series on Starz, but some of his earliest work came in collaboration with Joss Whedon. He wrote multiple episodes of both Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, and also later penned one for Dollhouse. He also had a run for many years on the show Smallville.

You may have noticed that DeKnight's long list of credits doesn't actually include any feature film work, but that's not of concern to Paramount Pictures, Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and Hasbro. In an interview from last week, Akiva Goldsman (who is the head of the brain trust) revealed that what they are doing with the Transformers franchise is creating what is basically the movie equivalent of a TV writers room. As such, DeKnight's experience on the small screen should suit him perfectly in a group deciding how future sequels and spin-offs should operate.

This development could mean that Steven DeKnight is just a few weeks/months away from writing what could wind up becoming his first feature film script - and given the guy's experience, that is a very interesting prospect. What it could be in the context of the Transformers franchise is a mystery for now (maybe he could be the one who tackles Beast Wars?), but it may be a little while before we start to hear about the results that the brain trust starts generating. As always, be sure to stay tuned for more updates.

Netflix unleashed Daredevil this past weekend to waves of acclaim from both hardcore comic fans and those largely unfamiliar with the hero. One of the more attention-grabbing reactions came from Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, who rained emotionally-driven praise down upon the series. And showrunner Steven DeKnight responded with an equally touching post, proving that directors who embrace violence can still be good ol’ softies on the inside.

Here’s how DeKnight put it on his Twitter page

Something feels so insider-y about knowing the man who created the hardcore spectacle that is Spartacus was brought to tears by a CGI tree’s acceptance of his fellow heroes. It doesn’t get better than that, as it was definitely the most heartfelt moment in Guardians. Some of the scenes in Gunn’s Slither made my eyes a little wet, but that was mostly ooze and guts, not tears.

While the fight sequences in Guardians of the Galaxy were fun and flashy, I hope that Gunn uses his admiration for the toga-free fight scenes in Daredevil to bring some of the same to his intergalactic superhero saga. Of course, that might just be me wanting to see Chris Pratt breaking people’s arms. (I also want to see that happen in Jurassic World.) And if Gunn decided that he wants in on Marvel’s Netflix series, that’s even better.

DeKnight has shown a lot of appreciation to his fans on social media ever since Daredevil came out. He also sent a kind shout out to former Daredevil comic scribe Kevin Smith, whom you might remember had a cameo in the Ben Affleck film. Or you might not, if you decided to forget that movie exists.

If you haven’t watched all 13 episodes of Daredevil’s Season 1 yet, then I am a jealous person, as I wish I could watch them all again for the first time.

The wait for Daredevil is almost over. On April 10, Marvel fans will finally be able to watch the new live-action iteration of The Man Without Fear when all 13 episodes of his Netflix series debut. However, despite all the hype and excitement for the series, there’s barely been any talk about whether the show will return for a second season. Showrunner Steven DeKnight has confirmed that nothing is set in stone at this point, but it's certainly not out of the question.

DeKnight told Collider that there haven’t been any talks about doing Daredevil Season 2, but if it were up to him, he would certainly be up to doing it in a way that fits the overall Marvel Netflix schedule. Said DeKnight:

As enthusiastic as he sounds for returning for a second season, it sounds like DeKnight is remaining cautious about returning, which is wise for a freshman series. Time and time again we’ve seen first-season shows not get a renewal, and for genre shows, this sometimes means ending on a cliffhanger. That’s the situation for DC Comics series Constantine, which aired its Season 1 finale in February. Although its showrunners are pitching a Season 2 to NBC at the end of the month, there’s no guarantee it will return, which is sure to piss off fans who want to see how everything gets resolved.

Marvel wants to avoid that predicament, waiting to see how people react to the first season before making plans for another one. One thing Daredevil has going for it is that early reviews have been extremely positive, though by no means are they indicative of what the entire season will be like. Once the reviews for all the episodes come piling in, and maybe after Marvel sees how A.K.A. Jessica Jones does as well, then a decision may be made one way or the other. DeKnight previously stated he would be open to the idea of using the supervillain Bullseye if the show returns; but like everything else, nothing is concrete at this point.

Even if Daredevil doesn’t return for a second season, Marvel fans can still look forward to him teaming up with his fellow Netflix heroes Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist when the Defenders miniseries eventually airs.

Unlike many Marvel heroes, The Punisher’s cinematic career has been less than stellar, as each of his three films were critical failures for the most part, with 2008’s Punisher: War Zone being his last big screen effort. Back in 2010, Marvel confirmed they re-secured the rights to the Punisher, but there haven’t been any plans to give the vigilante his own movie in the MCU, which isn’t surprising given that Disney wants their superhero films to stay in the PG-13 area. However, Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight believes that his upcoming Netflix series may hold the key to seeing Punisher in live-action again.

In an interview with SciFiNow, DeKnight stated that he hoped the darker nature of Daredevil would be able to convince Marvel executives to give Punisher, one of DeKnight’s favorite characters, his own Netflix series. Said DeKnight:

The Punisher is a Marvel character whose M.O. contrasts with the lighter tone of the MCU. After his wife and daughter were killed by gangsters, Frank Castle used his military skills and weaponry to kill those responsible, and then dedicated his life to eliminating all criminals. While he isn’t the only superhero who kills, Punisher’s one-man war on crime is frowned upon by most in the Marvel hero community because his obsession with vengeance often puts others at risk.

All that being said, the previews for Daredevil have shown us that Netflix is a good place for the MCU to delve into darker and grittier stories, which explains why we’ll be seeing so much brutal action over Daredevil’s upcoming 13 episodes. Plus, as Daredevil star Charlie Cox pointed out, the Man Without Fear is already “one bad day away from being the Punisher.” The chances of another theatrical Punisher movie are slim at this point, but if Marvel is willing to let Daredevil let loose with the violence, then Punisher seems like he would be a perfect fit for the online streaming service.

While we may have to wait awhile to hear any news on Punisher’s future in the MCU, Marvel fans can look forward to seeing Daredevil premiere on Netflix April 10, with A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist in the pipeline.

Spartacus creator Steven S. DeKnight has a bone to pick with Syfy. DeKnight recently took to Twitter to chat with fans, and among the topics that came up was the brilliant end credits sequence of Spartacus: War of the Damned. DeKnight's reaction was to note that Syfy "completely fucked" the end credits...

The above Tweet was in response to a fan stating that "the end of Spartacus had me in tears... and Andy's post-credit appearance - perfect."

In case your memory is rusty, or you still haven't gotten to the end credits of Spartacus: War of the Damned in your Netflix binge, the series closes out with an intense montage of all of the characters from Season 1 forward, leading up to the lead character, played by Liam McIntyre in the final two seasons (Vengeance and War of the Damned) and Andy Whitfield in the original season, Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Check it out...

Andy Whitfield tragically passed away after the first season of Spartacus aired. A prequel season (Gods of the Arena) aired after Season 1, and after that, the role of Spartacus was recast with McIntyre. The great thing about the finale's closing credits was that it not only offered one last tribute to many of the excellent characters who were in the series throughout its run, but it also led to that powerful moment where Whitfield screams out that classic line, "I am Spartacus."

Between the sex, nudity, language and violence, It's likely that Syfy had to make some edits to the series in order to make it a bit more suitable for basic cable. But it's unlikely that content would have affected whatever they did to the end credits. I wasn't able to find video of the closing moments of the series as they aired on Syfy, but if I were guessing, based on how basic cable tends to run credit sequences when they air movies, it's possible they did that thing where they roll the credits at double speed, or else mash them to one side of the screen to make room for the intro of whatever they're airing next. Regardless of what Syfy did to the end credits of the finale, it sounds like DeKnight isn't thrilled with it. And given how thoughtful that sequence was, I can't say I blame him.

Also, points to DeKnight for what I'm going to accept as a Mutant Enemy nod with the "Grr. Argh."

Alas, those who want to see the series in its proper, original form, can head over to Netflix and watch all four seasons. And speaking of Netflix, come this April, Steven DeKnight's next big project will arrive to the binge-watching masses in the form of Marvel's Daredevil.

The Netflix and Marvel team-up has gotten us incredibly excited with a whole slew of shows in the mix, but first to be produced is the Daredevil series. Marvel’s Daredevil has already begun filming, and the showrunner, Steven S. DeKnight has started to give us some clues into what to expect from the series. While answering fans questions via twitter, he also shed light on his opinion of the most recent Daredevil film, starring Ben Affleck. And while the movie had terrible reviews along with its release, DeKnight doesn’t think it’s Ben Affleck’s fault.

Steven S. DeKnight is a TV screenwriter, producer, and director, best known for the creation of the Starz series Spartacus. He’s also worked on popular shows such as Smallville, Buffy and Angel, and is no stranger to the world of comic books and heavy action. His previous work has more than earned him this valuable position, and we’re thrilled to see what he does with an awesome character like Matt Murdock. But aside from that, DeKnight recognizes talent, and found that Ben Affleck was not the problem in the 2003 Daredevil film. He tweeted:

DeKnight acknowledges that Affleck was all in, and is not to blame for the film’s lack of success. And that’s the truth, Affleck had a terrific performance, but there was no character development. He did what he could do with the role, but when the writing is poor, there’s not much more the actor can do to fix that.

Even Affleck has acknowledged his regret in taking the role of Daredevil back in 2003. Because of his new caped crusader role in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, his first comic book breakout role has been in the discussion. But Affleck shut down any debate by stating in an interview with Playlist:

Affleck admits his mistake in taking the Daredevil role despite his own hesitation. And there’s no doubt that he is an incredible actor and director far beyond that role, so we totally forgive him.

As for the Daredevil Marvel/Netflix series. Check out this eerie Motion Poster that Marvel just released. And the show will hit Netflix April 10, 2015.

There are still a lot of things we don’t yet know about Netflix’s upcoming Marvel series Daredevil, but each new piece of information is more interesting than the last. From the sound of things, it seems as if this superhero drama will split its focus between Matt Murdock’s red-cowled vigilante and the biggest, baddest villain in Hell’s Kitchen: Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk.

Showrunner and developer Steven S. DeKnight recently spoke with EW about all things Daredevil, and he shared quite a few interesting tidbits, the biggest of which is a pronounced character arc for Kingpin that doesn’t just peg him as a generic mountain of evil. Here’s how DeKnight put it.

More encouraging words are rarely spoken. A lot of comic book adaptations, both on the big and small screen, end up giving the villain only surface motivations without much going on to back them up. (Especially Marvel villains.) It’s awesome that DeKnight, and screenwriter Drew Goddard, are focused on giving us two sides of a justice-seeking coin, rather than just a game of cat and thinly-delineated mouse. Especially when that mouse has the presence of Vincent D’Onofrio. And the fact that they’re playing up the relationship between him and Vanessa is a lot more exciting than just having him build a criminal army for Daredevil to knock around, which is par for the course these days. We need emotional beats!

Spartacus fans probably won’t be surprised to learn any of this, though, since DeKnight routinely gave the historical Starz series’ antagonists their just due in character development. Will Kingpin be as awesome as John Hannah’s Batiatus? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Even though Kingpin is a ruthless son of a bitch, we shouldn’t expect Spartacus levels of violence being used in his dirty work. DeKnight has stated in the past that despite Netflix allowing this series to be far more violent than any other superhero material on the air, things are only going to be slightly more extreme than Marvel’s other fare.

Fans can expect to find Kingpin giving kissy faces when Daredevil premieres on Netflix in 2015.

A large part of the Marvel Universe, both in the comics and live-action media, involves epic fight sequences where punches, kicks and weapons are thrown around with reckless abandon. Some of this can be amusing, such as Hulk pummeling Loki in The Avengers, and some of it can be mildly disturbing, like watching Spider-Man bite the dust in Death of Spider-Man. Those of us who enjoy over-the-top mayhem like that are quite curious about the approach Steven DeKnight will be taking with his upcoming Daredevil series for Netflix. After all, this is the guy that created Spartacus, one of the most gloriously violent shows on TV.

When asked about it recently on Twitter, here’s what DeKnight had to say, presumably while shoving spears into people's eyes.

It’s a painfully vague answer, but still one that serves its purpose well. The violent content of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is generally pushed aside for different kinds of action, though it does get more interesting as its first season moves forward. (Can we get more power saw fisticuffs?) Still, it’s on ABC and isn’t what many people would call extremely realistic.

Spartacus, on the other hand, was a series that had no problem bringing its savagery to the forefront, which made crucifixion and execution scenes fairly regular occurrences. That sort of behavior makes screenshots like this available.

Daredevil obviously has to lie somewhere between bloodless fisticuffs and character’s heads being ripped off of their bodies. Given the series’ place on Netflix, there’s a much broader scope for what can and cannot be delivered to audiences. Netflix Original Hemlock Grove was pretty consistent in getting explicitly gory, though I don’t think Matt Murdoch will have a particularly gruesome transformation scene when he puts on his red suit and cowl. But the fight choreography will have to be a little more exotic than this, right?

With a cast that includes Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Rosario Dawson, Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Wolf, Daredevil will presumably be the linchpin in Netflix’s upcoming immersion into the Marvel Universe. They also have Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and a Defenders miniseries coming. Expect Daredevil's violence, however extreme it may be, when the series debuts in 2015.

There's some definite shuffling going on at Marvel recently. Earlier, we learned that Edgar Wright was exiting the anticipated Ant-Man feature film, and now comes word that Drew Goddard has stepped down as showrunner from Netflix's Daredevil series. While Goddard heads over to the feature side to work on Sony's Sinister Six, Spartacus showrunner and former Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer Steven DeKnight is in talks to take over Daredevil.

Got all that? Wright's off Ant-Man, Goddard's off Daredevil and on Sinister Six, DeKnight's on Daredevil. But who's on first?!

THR has confirmed that Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is stepping down as showrunner from Netflix's planned Daredevil series and is set to write and direct Sony's villain-focused Spider-Man spinoff Sinister Six. Meanwhile, Steven S. DeKnight is said to be finalizing a deal to board the Daredevil series. UPDATE - Marvel just confirmed, so it looks like it's official.

From the perspective of a Spartacus fan, or anyone who loved DeKnight's work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Dollhouse, his arrival at Daredevil is exciting news. And it's well worth noting that DeKnight not only has experience running a fantastic TV drama -- if you haven't seen Spartacus, it's going to start airing on Syfy next month! -- but he's also a Joss Whedon alum, which should be comforting news, especially in light of Drew Goddard's departure as showrunner. Goddard, who penned the first two episodes, will remain with Daredevil as executive producer.

Last we heard, the 13-episode Daredevil series -- the first of a handful of planned Marvel series lined up for Netflix -- was supposed to begin production in New York this summer. Whether or not this showrunner shift will affect the schedule remains to be seen, but from Marvel's announcement, we should expect to see Daredevil on Netflix sometime in 2015. Netflix and Marvel are also planning series centered on Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones.

Since THR's report broke, Steven DeKnight tweeted the following...

And he has also stated that he's deeply honored to be a part of it.

Fans of DeKnight from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spartacus and his other series have been waiting to see what the writer would do next. He had a sci-fi drama for Starz in development as of last year, but there hasn't been any update on Incursion in a while. At this point, it may be safe to assume Incursion isn't going forward, or at the very least, that it's been put on the back burner as DeKnight moves on to handle Daredevil for Netflix.

I doubt I'm alone in hoping for good news for Steven S. DeKnight's sci-fi project Incursion. With Spartacus: War of the Damned wrapped up, those of us who enjoyed DeKnight's creative and dramatic take on the gladiator's story are surely eager to see what the writer does next. We learned last year that Incursion was in the works, and the latest update is that the writers room is closing up shop on the project, but from the sound of it, that's not actually bad news.

It's not really good news either. It's just an update. Deadline says the writers room for Incursion has started to ramp down because there are enough scripts written to fit a full series order, should it get one at Starz. The premium cable network tends to send their developing projects straight to series once the decision is made to move forward with them, so if Starz does decide they like what's been written, it'll hopefully mean the full green light for the series. Starz is reportedly currently evaluating it now.

DeKnight has gone from the past with Spartacus to the distant future for Incursion, which would be a sci-fi action thriller about a squad of solders fighting in a war against a hostile alien race. It would be set up so that each season, the battle would be fought on a different planet, allowing for some drastically different environments. We talked to Steven DeKnight about the project at Comic Con last year and he told us they'd be aiming to film in different locations rather than using green screen.

Here's hoping things work out for Incursion. It sounds very different from Spartacus, but DeKnight has proven he knows how to run a series - and a good one. He also has plenty of writing experience on great shows. Prior to Spartacus, his writing credits include Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Dollhouse.

Spartacus: War of the Damned premieres this Friday, marking the start of the final season of the popular Starz historical-fantasy drama series. Creator Steven S. DeKnight and stars Liam McIntyre (Spartacus), Todd Lasance (Caesar) and Cynthia Addai-Robinson were kind enough to speak to the press on a conference call to talk to us about the final season. Check out the lengthy but entertaining and informative conversation ahead.

Among the topics of discussion, Caesar's role in the series, Agron's relationship with Nasir (and why DeKnight accidentally refers to Agron as Nagron), what Spartacus is like this season and who Liam McIntyre thinks is his character's moral compass (his answer might surprise you!). On the subject of spoilers, there are some plot and character topics discussed and there is some vague but hinty talk about how the show will end, so read on with that in mind. It's a pretty lengthy conversation, so we have the second part set to post separately.

Steven I’m wondering if you could talk about Caesar’s entry into this show, I know he comes in the second episode. But how big of a threat is he going to be for our “heroes”?

Steven S. DeKnight: Oh he’s a huge threat. You know, early on we had a discussion in the writer’s room looking at the villain side. We had Crassus which is fantastic. But we felt like we needed another element to bring into it and we hatched this idea, “Well what about Caesar? What about a young Caesar?” You know, really before he came to power.

We knew historically that Caesar of this time period was very much the order and he was a fighter. He was fighting in foreign wars, and he had this fantastic Julian name, but he was also broke. And those elements really matched well with Crassus. And we were also very interested in seeing the early days of Crassus and Caesar, before they joined together with Pompey and overthrew the Republic. We thought that would be a really great story to tell. And you usually don’t see that side of the story in movies and television shows about Caesar. It’s usually after they’ve overthrown the Republic, or right around the time they overthrow the Republic. So then we brought in our (unintelligible) and said, you know, “How much would we destroy history by having Caesar as part of this war against Spartacus?” And we were all very surprised when they told us that we wouldn’t be destroying history at all. And in fact this was the one small part of history that very little was known about Caesar. Everything else, there’s a lot written about him, except this one little area.

And there are historians that thought it was probable that Caesar was part of this campaign against Spartacus and more than likely served under Crassus. So that gave us, you know, just enough to hang our (sort of) hat on. That said, everything in the show with Caesar is fictional. Although we do frame it with actual events from his past and we make references, very sly references to what’s coming in the future for Caesar.

And then, of course, we had to find a Caesar. And man, this was a hard, hard role to cast. Because I had a very specific thing in my head for Caesar. He had to have a presence, he had to have – you know, look like he would be a threat to the other gladiators. And most importantly, he had to have this shrewd intelligence in his eyes. Really like a shark that was constantly, you know, thinking and looking for his next move.

((Crosstalk))

Steven S. DeKnight: What was that? Oh yeah, if he was hot it was a bonus.

Todd Lasance: I’m just going to sit here quietly.

Steven S. DeKnight: So then we saw so many auditions and just could not find the right combination. And then I saw Todd audition and I immediately called Rob up and said, “I got the guy. This is absolutely the guy. We need to lock him up as quickly as possible because we’re not going to find another actor that just embodies what we need from Caesar.” And Todd did such a fantastic job. From the moment you first see him on screen, it is a different interpretation of Caesar that I think the audience has ever seen. And I think very right for this time period. And I’ve read a lot of things online, Todd I don’t know if you’ve read any of these, but there’s been a small outcry of, “You guys suck, your casting is terrible, this guy looks nothing like Caesar. Caesar is old and bald.”

Todd Lasance: A couple of my friends have said that.

Steven S. DeKnight: Yeah, you know, people – just go back to what we’ve seen so much of. And, you know, Ciaran Hinds in Rome was so fantastic as Caesar. But that’s Caesar later in his life, that’s like 30 years later. In this time period Caesar, historically, is right around 29. And, you know, it just brings such a fantastic element to the show. I’m very excited for people to see this Caesar, the Caesar threat with the rebels. And also, just the way Crassus and Caesar interact is just a joy to behold.

And Todd could you talk about just taking on the role and did you rely mostly on the script and your conversations with Steven? Or did you kind of delve into the history and the research in that respect?

Todd Lasance: I kind of worked on two elements with that. First of all before I had a chance to speak to the producers I just had about six weeks to sort of do as much research. So I got as many books together as I could and did a lot of research online and sort of tried to get an understanding for that particular time period. Because, unfortunately, historically there is not a lot of information in his earlier years. Because, obviously, when he came to power and was emperor that’s obviously when a lot of it was documented. So early on I did as much research as I could. And then once I landed in New Zealand, sort of sat down and spoke with the producers to get an understanding of what they wanted to see from Caesar. And obviously the character description as well gave me a little bit of an understanding. So it was kind of both of those elements.

With regards to the audition – going into it with no real notes or anything to take into the room. I just kind of had to put my own spin on him a little. So I guess you could say there was sort of three different elements that I brought together. Because obviously, if the audition worked, then there were elements that I used in those particular scenes that they wanted to see again. So I wanted to keep that, keep that (through line) the character as well. So yeah, it was kind of three elements I guess you could say.

Naevia went through such a huge change last season and I’m assuming she’s going to be doing a lot of butt kicking. So what was that like in terms of learning to fight and all of that?

Cynthia Addai-Robinson: Well, I went through a really interesting sort of process both on a personal level and through working on this character. And essentially at the end of vengeance you saw the sort of beginnings of what Naevia is going to be this season in War of the Damned. And I think back to when I was hired and at the time I was hired I met with Steven. And I remember him giving me just a vague idea that I would be eventually fighting and kicking ass. But I don’t think I could have really imagined what I ultimately ended up doing. Which was some of the hardest work I’ve ever done really. I don’t have a background in stunt work, fighting, anything like that. So for me it was very much, “Okay, I’m just going to jump into this. Take a leap of faith and assume that the producers and the writers won’t give me anything that I can’t handle.” But, I definitely was pushed to the limits in a good way. And I very much cared about making sure that I could use all that training and the fighting to tell that story and to move that character forward.

So that was sort of what kept me motivated and kept me going. Because there were many times and many days where I just thought, “Oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can do this. I’m really out of my depth here.” But I’m really happy with it and we have such an incredible support network with our stunt department. Who works tirelessly to get these fight sequences together, and I have to say some of the sequences this season are just absolutely amazing. And, you know, we work on the show. We put all this work into it. But, you know, I think I can speak for the group of us when I say that we’re also fans. So when we watch it we’re just as into it as the audience. And, you know, so we’re all really excited to see what the end result is going to look like.

Steven S. DeKnight: I think the audience is going to be absolutely blown away by Naevia this season. I mean she is – from the moment she walks on screen – every time we were watching dailies in the writer’s room, every time Cynthia would come on screen, we’d spend the next ten minutes talking about how cool you were.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson: And it was nice to, again, this season I felt like I really got to own it. I know for the audience, when I showed up as Naevia 2.0 it was probably a bit (trying) in many respects. And, you know, now I feel like this season, the audience hopefully they’ve moved past that. Either they accept it or they don’t, but at this point I know for me I can just really sort of own Naevia this season and I’m really excited for the audience to sort of see where the writers and producers have taken this character this year.

What was done on the production, I know it’s massive and all that, but to be more carbon footprint reductive, and save, and reduce waste.

Liam McIntyre: Oh no, that’s fine. I think they do an incredible job. They recycle everything you could imagine, like the costumes. They’ve got a warehouse of costumes that they keep revising rather than, you know, trying to…

((Crosstalk))

Liam McIntyre: …as much as they can. You know, which is perhaps easier than to just take stuff and completely make new things rather than having to adapt things. And I think everyone is very conscious of that, obviously in the offices they’re very conscious of waste paper. And we weren’t allowed to get scripts on a certain size paper because it wastes too many trees and stuff like that. I can’t speak for the exact nuances of their plan as far as the producer’s point of view. (Unintelligible) ecology plan. But from an actor’s point of view, seeing a few things like that I was actually very impressed with the way that they just tried to maintain a balance…

Did you get (your) scripts by electronic transmission, did they send…

Liam McIntyre: Well there’s certain risks associated with sending a script by electronic transmission. As long as you can code them and stuff like that. With something as lucrative as Spartacus, the subject can get a little dangerous. They rather insist that you return scripts so they can break them down and recycle them. And also make sure that they’re also, you know, so you can’t just take a script and just chuck it in the bin or something like that. They do what they can to keep it a functional office, but a very Earth conscious one. As much as reasonable. I was appreciative of their efforts anyway.

Steven, I’m curious about the decision to end the show and when that was made in terms of work on this upcoming season. Had it begun already?

Steven S. DeKnight: No, thankfully we knew at the end of Spartacus: Vengeance when we were still writing the show. We were writing the last couple of episodes. And we knew there was a 99% chance that the next season would be our last season. So it gave us plenty of lead time to plan the end of Vengeance. So we could springboard into War of the Damned. So thankfully - it’s a very rare thing in television – we had plenty of time to figure out where we were going to go. The only question was how many episodes we were going to do. And we went through a lot of different variations. I mean everything from let’s do eight episodes so we can spend more money on each episode, to how about 16 episodes and we’ll air it in two parts. But ultimately we thought that 10 episodes would give you the most bang for your buck. And I personally like The Princess Bride, let’s cut out all the boring parts and just give 10 fantastic episodes. And hopefully we have.

And the decision to end the show, was that yours? Was it the networks? Because it’s unusual to see a show as popular and does as well in the ratings as Spartacus, and before five seasons.

Steven S. DeKnight: Yeah, it was a combination. It really was. There was a lot of factors going into it. Factors, everything from story, just looking – my original plan was five to seven seasons. Then we got to the war years and the more and more I researched, the more and more all of the things that happened in the war were incredibly interesting. Also incredibly expensive and somewhat repetitive. Spartacus and his band of rebels didn’t exactly have a dramatic three act structure to what they were doing. They were all over the place. They fought among themselves, they split apart, they came back together, they split apart, they went North, they went South, they went East, they went West, they went back North, they went back South. It was really a – when you read it, you really get the sense that there was no plan. It was just, you know, they were out and about.

And then it was one wave after another of Romans going after them and Romans getting defeated. So I really struggled with how to lay this out in an entertaining fashion for two or three more seasons. Without completely jettisoning history. And I didn’t want to completely turn my back on history and just make it fictional. So it was a group decision, and a bold one I think for Starz. Everything they’ve done with this show has been a bold choice. But to end – and I kept saying, you know, look we would rather end this show on a high note at its most popular than drag it out for a couple more seasons. And have the audience start to fall away and people starting to get bored. And I totally agreed with that. I thought it was a great opportunity to end it and really end it strong.

You mentioned history and I wonder given the real history of Spartacus, should viewers be steeling themselves for a downer ending.

Steven S. DeKnight: I have a long history of ripping hearts out. So, yeah, it’s a gut wrenching finale. But the interesting thing, and I’m so proud of the series finale. It’s so hard to end a series, but I think everyone did such a fantastic job on this. It is a beautiful, powerful, emotional ending. And the trick was, how do you end it – and this was something we talked about before we shot the first episode of the series, was what are we going to do at the end. I mean, everybody knows how it ends. It would be like doing a movie about the Titanic and the Titanic doesn’t sink. But for us we wanted to (keep) as close to history as possible. So the challenge was, how do we have that ending but still make it a victory. And, you know, the last episode is called Victory and it’s a bit of an ironic title. Because it really explores, you know, how the rebels gained victory in defeat. And how, frankly, with the Romans how they suffered defeat and victory.

No one comes out of this clean at the end. In true Spartacus fashion, it’s all very grey at the end. But there is a powerful, I think, uplifting message at the end. And, you know, I’ve said this before but I wrote the finale, I watched all of the dailies, I saw cuts, but still at the end of the day when I watched it I cried. It was so powerful. So I can only imagine what the audience is going to feel.

Liam McIntyre: Yeah, it was very cool for us though. Especially for the rebels to sort of find a way, how do you win? How do you win out of all this that happened? Sort of a cool challenge. You know, I think they do a pretty good job. I really feel like Spartacus kind of wins.

Todd Lasance: No he doesn’t.

((Crosstalk))

Liam McIntyre: Todd’s like, no he doesn’t.

Todd Lasance: I had to pop up, sorry I had to.

Liam McIntyre: Alright you and your fancy…

Todd Lasance: Fancy long hair.

I watched the first two episodes and there is definitely a few moments where I’m like, “Spartacus? What?” So I guess I would like to ask how he has sort of changed as far as his attitude towards things in sort of the grey area.

Liam McIntyre: He’s a lot more no nonsense this year. It’s been fun. I liked the writing team have kind of clearly (delineated) Spartacus in each season. He’s a reluctant slave, you know, who has the mission to regain his life essentially. Or, and that’s clearly defined in the second season that he’s lost his old life and he’s got the start of this new one as they take on this unique new responsibility that is given to him. Which is, you have the real opportunity to make a difference to so many lives, is that the person you are? And he sort of works that out.

But now it’s about a year later almost in the midst of this war, this full scale rebellion that was made so famous. He’s not the questioning guy that he has been in the past about what he should be doing and how he should do it. He’s no nonsense, kick ass, take names kind of guy now. And he’s been a lot of fun to play. It’s a great season for Spartacus this year because he gets to look at the rebels in a different way, you know? Up until now he’s just been, you know, trying to get his own personal vengeance. And also try to free these people that look to him for leadership. But now he’s seeing that freedom, you know, a different shape to the beast of his rebellion. Are they as good as he wants them to be? Are they doing what he thinks is right? Are they doing the right thing? There’s a lot of questions raised about who the good guy is in this series.

And one of the things I love about what Simon and Todd do in the roles of Caesar and Crassus is they really get the audience to sort of question of who are they going for? And that’s one of the things I love about this show, is that the bad guys aren’t really bad guys. They just happen to be fighting the hero. And so you’ve got to put them in that pile. But yeah, so Spartacus has really hardened up and he has to – he sort of realizes that it’s going to be his strength of will that leads these people to freedom or otherwise. And if he’s going to have any chance against the impossible might of Rome he’s going to have to steer the ship. So he’s in a very firm place now.

Is there any possibility that we’ll be seeing Spartacus with Crassus and the others before the end? Because generally we have to wait till the big finale for it, but I just felt that your characters are so intriguing I’d like to see action ahead of time.

Liam McIntyre: Yeah, we get a lot of moments. There will be some bigger than others, but yeah they will not be too separate. They, obviously, whenever they’re together it’s probably not going to go well. But no, Steven has some wonderful little ideas this year about how to keep the interaction quite creative and I think it’s ultimately very...

Steven S. DeKnight: That was definitely one of the trickiest elements of this season. Because now you’ve got two forces. You’ve got Crassus and Caesar and Spartacus and his rebels. And whenever they’re together, they’re not going to be standing around talking. They’re going to try to murder each other. So finding creative ways to get around that was definitely a challenge.

There’s been much said about Crassus and Julius Caesar, but I was also intrigued by some of the other new characters. Could you say something more about Kore and Tiberius? And what their roles are and questions that are brought up by their presence?

Steven S. DeKnight: Yes, Kore is Crassus’ trusted and beloved house slave. And really I think his general compass is heart. She plays a very, very large role in who Crassus is. And I really wanted to find a way to humanize Crassus. He’s not a monster, he is not a two dimensional villain. He has feelings, and desires, and he has a heart. Tiberius is Carrus’ son, his youngest son. He’s going to war for the first time with his father. And that’s the other dynamic I thought was really important for Crassus. Is to show this father son relationship and that balance between needing to guide your son in the right path, in the Roman way. But also this struggle about, you know, you want to be tough but you want to also show love. And that constant struggle for Crassus is something that plays out through the entire season. Those two elements, the Kore and Tiberius elements, I think, were vital in really fleshing out the character of Crassus.

Well what I felt was intriguing also was that Tiberius seems to also have respect and sort of reverence for Kore, even though she is a house slave too. So he picked up something from his dad? Or what is that relationship like?

Steven S. DeKnight: Definitely. That’s something in the first episode that I wanted to show about Crassus, is that he is not a guy that feels like all slaves should be ground under the heel. He, in this time period I believe, was the largest slave owner in Rome. And he didn’t just own slaves that did, you know, manual labor. He owned slaves that were scholars and architects. It was like a labor force. He made money off this because he would rent out his experts to other Romans to do work for them. And to teach their children. And he made quite a bit of money out of that. And also a lot of people think that slavery in this time the slaves were all in chains, were all treated poorly. But, in fact, a lot of slaves had their own homes, had their own families. But they were, you know, under the slave owner. And Crassus really had the most elite level slaves. And there’s a certain, I think, respect that he has for them.

He realizes this is a necessary component of this society. And he completely accepts that, he’s not against slavery. But I wanted to show that he had a respect, and on some level a love, for certain slaves. And I think that all really, really comes out in his relationship with Kore and even his interactions with a slave that he has helping him train to fight in episode one.

Liam McIntyre: (Unintelligible) defines Caesar’s relationship in that (unintelligible). In that sort of family environment as well. He’s sort of the outsider coming in to some extent right?

Steven S. DeKnight: Yeah, family is just so important. You know, it’s a thing – Liam’s interviewing me. No, but family is so important. It was important in the beginning of this show with Lucretia and Batiatus and (unintelligible). And it was important with Glabor and Ilithyia, and Ilithyia’s father. And it is very, very important this season with Crassus and Tiberius and, you know, I include Kore and Caesar to some extent, in Crassus’ family. I think that building off that feeling of family is so important, and very important on the rebel side too.

Is there a point where Spartacus is going to say, “This is too far? These people are innocent, we need to stop.”

Liam McIntyre: That would be an interesting question. Look, all I can say is that the thing I like about Spartacus is he isn’t necessarily a cut and dried hero character. He’s aware of the world around him and the fact that it’s not a pretty Disney World. It’s not something with a Spielberg ending. And he kind of, you know, he has to take stock of what does he want, what’s it for, and what is he prepared to sacrifice to get it? And, yeah, there will be many times that the Romans and his own rebels make him look at what he’s created and question whether or not it’s okay what he is doing and the people around him are doing. Both sides. To tell you exactly how he decides that would be ruining the story, but it is part of what makes this character so fascinating.

Because he’s not always the good guy. And some of the things that make him the hero I like to think he is, are those difficult decisions that aren’t always good guy decisions. And so when he does fight and fight the good fight, it sort of more important. So he will be tested more than he ever has been and what is he doing, and why is he doing it?

Is there someone in his group that maybe acts as a bit of a conscience for him?

Liam McIntyre: Yeah, I’ve always thought that. Strangely enough, you’d never think it on the surface but, I've personally always found that Gannicus is something of his moral compass. Because he’s the only one that really tells Spartacus the truth. Whether it’s from the minute he met him in Vengeance, because you know obviously I think, (Varro) was that kind of guy back in Blood and Sand. He was the friend that just told Spartacus how it was. So Spartacus didn’t have that for a while. And then this rock star Gannicus comes along and just sort of lays it out in a way that Spartacus didn’t get any more. And throughout Vengeance and War of the Damned, they have this very – I love it. A very interesting relationship where two of the toughest men there are sort of lean on each other in sort of intercept able ways, in sort of manly ways. And they open up to each other that makes sort kind of (right) for the other character. So yeah, they have this strange, you know, odd bond. That like neither of them sort of looks for, but there it is, you know. And I really like the way their journey goes, especially this season.

Steven S. DeKnight: Yeah, that relationship was so important to me this season. And it really bookends the season. There is an important scene in episode one between the two. And there is a call back to that scene in the finale that is really, really important. And that scene in the finale, the call back, when we were fighting the page count and the original breakdown of the script said it would take, I don’t know, 32 days to shoot. That was one of the scenes that people were talking about cutting. And I said, “No, you can’t cut that scene. That’s a really important scene.” In fact I think that scene, that call back scene, was not in the original draft of the finale.

Liam McIntyre: Interesting.

Steven S. DeKnight: And (unintelligible) said, “Hey I think, you know, we need a Spartacus Gannicus scene. And he was dead on. I think the finale would suffer without that scene between those two. Very, very important relationship.

What makes this Julius Caesar, besides his age, different than the others that we’ve seen on television or movies?

Todd Lasance: Interesting question. I think the element of, I think the idea of him having a bit of a rogue element sort of springs to mind as being different from the other seasons portrayed. He doesn’t, he sort of appears to not conform and stick directly to what would be a – what’s the word? A traditional Roman way. He kind of fly’s his own flag to a degree, but obviously there is still that respect element with Crassus. So that rogue element was interesting, I wasn’t sure what was going to be introduced as far as this Caesar as well. Coming into the show I wasn’t sure of his whole character (act). So the rogue element was certainly interesting. I think his ability on the battlefield as well is something that hasn’t really been touched on in previous Caesars. Particularly as well, obviously given the fact that most of the time Caesar is betrayed it’s in his later years. But I think it will be interesting for the audience to see the fact that he was extremely formidable with the sword.

And he needed to be a direct threat to Spartacus and the rebels themselves and have that sort of physical presence in the sense that he needed to be an opponent that was worthy of fighting and could potentially take down the rebels. So they introduce a few one on ones between the higher ranking rebels as well. To kind of show off, I guess you could say, his fighting ability. And it becomes quite apparent very early on that obviously he’s a definite physical threat as well. Not just a sharp wit, but also an extremely threatening on the battlefield. So I think those two elements will be something that hasn’t really been seen before in a Caesar in the past.

Steven S. DeKnight: And to add to that. That was an element that I really wanted to show. Is just how dangerous Caesar was militarily. Since historically he goes on to fight a brutal campaign in Gaul and at this point in our story, he’s coming back from helping (unintelligible) fight against the pirates. So he knew how to fight. He was a military guy, and he became a military commander. And that’s the other thing about Crassus too that I wanted to show. A lot of people just think of Crassus as the statesman, the rich statesman. But he actually, his nickname was the Hero of (Common) Gate, I believe it was. There was a big battle during the times of (Marius) where he did this decisive maneuver in a battle that won the day.

But I also (looked) in history for that and I wanted Crassus and Caesar both to be very, very good fighters. And for the audience to have the idea that, okay if one of these guys went head to head with Spartacus, you know, maybe he won’t win. But by God he’ll give him a run for his money. That they are dangerous and on the right day, at the right time, they could kill any of the main rebel characters.

Todd Lasance: Actually adding to that as well. It was interesting for me to read personally about his – about the fact that at such an early age he was commanding legions. I think we lose scope of the age, do you know what I mean. I look at – I’m 27, and to think two or three years prior Caesar was commanding legions of men. And at the front line of the battlefield. I can’t even fathom what that must have been like. So for him to prove himself at such a young age as well, I think it was important for that element to be introduced in the season as well. Or in the series itself. Just because people weren’t aware of that. I most certainly wasn’t aware of it until I came across it in the readings and, you know, we had – there’s a couple of accounts of high ranking soldiers moving to the front of the line with Caesar and wanting to be the first to charge the line, so they could die in his name. So he obviously held an extremely large amount of respect with the military. And ultimately that’s how he gained so much power and became emperor, was through the military. So it’s an important element.

Steven S. DeKnight: That sounds like a great show that I’d like to see.

((Crosstalk))

Todd Lasance: Little drop in.

Liam McIntyre: No, I keep saying that. I swear, I don’t want to talk it up too much. But whenever I watch it I’m just compelled by the Roman side of the story. I mean, truly I think Todd’s portrayal of Caesar is just brilliant. And honestly Crassus is a fantastic nemesis. He’s just unlike any other villain that we’ve portrayed so far. And those two together, they’re so different, but that’s what makes them (unintelligible) wonderful partnership. Because they are like two sides of the same coin in some regard. And the portrayals I think are just exceptional. They really blew me away.

Todd Lasance: Thank you.

Steven I wanted to ask you about Agron and Nasir this season. And what can we expect from that relationship? And what have you heard from people on, just the gay element of the show? Which I love how you portray it very much a part of the world we see, but what have you heard from audience members? And what could we expect?

Steven S. DeKnight: I’ll answer this in reverse. You know, the support for Nagron and Nasir has just been overwhelmingly positive. Better than I could imagine.

Liam McIntyre: Agron.

Steven S. DeKnight: Agron, who did I say?

Man: Nagron.

Steven S. DeKnight: Nagron. I’m so used to reading the shipper name online. I always say Nagron. It was so overwhelmingly positive. And with Agron and Nasir, we’ve had gay characters on the show before. But this was the first time we could develop the relationship from the very beginning. Very slowly. And actually see them fall in love. Which was something both Rob Tapert and I both really, really wanted to do. And I think that last season with Vengeance, Dan and Pana both did such a fantastic job that, that awkward realizing you like somebody and those (urgent) glances, and it was just so beautifully done.

So the reaction to that has been, you know, just fantastically positive. The reaction overall to our same sex relationships, it’s been both positive and negative. Just like any cross section of society. There’s a lot of people who do not have a problem with it, that think the characters are wonderful and the storyline is beautiful. And there are segments out there that just freak out whenever you even mention such a thing. Honestly there’s the same segment like with the male nudity. There’s a lot of guys that their head just sets on fire if there is a naked guy on screen. I personally don’t understand how either one of those is threatening if you’re a secure heterosexual male. But, you know, with some people we haven’t reached that point yet where everything is acceptable. And, you know, it just doesn’t bother you.

With Agron and Nasir this season, we continue exploring their relationship. You can’t always have a relationship that goes smoothly, there’s not a lot of drama in that. So we throw a couple of curve balls at them. But theirs is one of the relationships that I think is really kind of a cornerstone of this season. There are a lot of relationships going on, and there’s I think is particularly powerful, and gut wrenching, and beautiful.

Todd Lasance: Yeah I feel like it really (chops) the course of the rebellion. Because as things get hotter and hotter and more high stakes for the rebellion, it’s really there relationship that gives you that insight into how all the couples in the rebel camp are dealing with the scale of what they’re doing.

Steven S. DeKnight: They are a really good barometer as to what’s going on inside the rebel camp.

Good to hear you all again. I have a question for Todd. In light of what Steven talked about earlier in the call about not much being known about young Caesar in history. I was wondering how it feels to be making history.

Todd Lasance: To be perfectly honest with you I still remember so vividly the moment I found out I got the role. I was sitting with my parents at lunch and I got the phone call from my agent saying I was going to be playing Caesar and I nearly burst into tears because I was so excited. There were hugs all around and five minutes later I jumped in my car and I swear to God I was two minutes from calling up and pulling out of the role because the fear hit me of what I was just about to undertake.

It was extremely daunting, I will admit. I think personally I place a lot of pressure on my performances as it is, I’m very critical of myself. And I think with taking on someone like Caesar or anyone of historical value there’s – people have these preconceived sort of notions, or ideas, or images in their mind of what they would expect of Caesar. And for me as an actor, my fear came from a place of not necessarily when I have dialogue or when there is particular moments in a scene. It was more so when I’m not doing anything that I needed to, I felt this weight of needing to carry Caesar.

That you would look at, I had this idea in my head, that when you look at Caesar you need to see someone that would potential become one of the greatest rulers in history. So I think that played on my mind a lot and I wanted to do him justice, do you know what I mean? Whatever that justice would be. Especially with not having a lot of information to sort of work on I guess. I had to go on a lot of instinct and a lot of work I did at home that I brought to the character. But my first day I was absolutely terrified, and it was obviously all shot in chronological order as far as episodes go. And the first thing that you do see on air was my actual first scene shooting.

So I think it was more just I wanted to do him justice and I was very aware of the fact that people had, quite famous actors had played the part and done incredible portrayals. And I wanted to live up to what people would expect to Caesar. I think it was probably also the expectations as well when they see Caesar, they’re going to expect to see some sort of X factor. So I’m just hoping that, you know, that comes across.

Steven S. DeKnight: And we’re all very glad you didn’t make that phone call.

Todd Lasance: I swear to God I sat in the car and I was terrified. The first moment was pure excitement and couldn’t believe it. But then, yeah, it just – I think it hit me what I was just about to undertake. Liam McIntyre: That’s cool though, you get to define young Caesar. That’s pretty amazing.

Todd Lasance: But even you saying that is why I was so scared.

Liam McIntyre: It’s yours now it’s awesome.

The thing that I like about Spartacus (unintelligible) is that there is always this sort of (unintelligible) machinations and the political side of it, which is really intriguing and dangerous. But then there’s also the brute force fighting too. Considering that, who do you feel is Caesar’s most dangerous foe? Tiberius or Spartacus?

Todd Lasance: Without a doubt Spartacus, 100%. I mean, I guess, that’s a really good question actually. Look, Spartacus is his ultimate nemesis because he has the tactical mind, the strategic mind, the political mind. But also the skill on the battlefield, and Caesar is aware of that. So Tiberius obviously has a lot of strength and qualities that could be potentially dangerous to Caesar. Particularly the relationship between him and Crassus, but I think it’s made fairly clear early on that Caesar feels like he has power over Tiberius and isn’t necessarily a threat. But interestingly enough he’s kind of a threat unbeknownst to Caesar as well. So there’s a lot of little dark elements that go on through the season that the audience may not be aware of until they show themselves.

But as far as the ultimate, I guess you could say the ultimate nemesis would definitely be Spartacus. Caesar feels like he’s is a formidable opponent, but at the end of the day he’s aware that Spartacus has put together this legion of men. I don’t think there’s an element of fear per se, but he’s certainly aware that once he does meet Spartacus it’s not going to be – it’s certainly going to be a show down.

(To Lasance) Now I assume that following history, you deserve congratulations for probably being one of the few people to survive the season. And I was wondering if there were to be a Caesar spin-off, would you be up for it?

Todd Lasance: Look, it would definitely be something we’d look at taking on for sure, without a doubt. There hasn’t been anything specifically officially spoken to me about, but it would definitely be something I would look at if it was brought to the table.

You’ve had such great freedom with Starz to be able to craft this show and you’re working on another show. So what are some of the things that you’ve taken from your experience with Spartacus that you either want to move towards because it works very well for you, or are you looking to do some things very different in the same space?

Steven S. DeKnight: Well first off Starz has been, I can’t tell you the freedom that they have given us. I don’t think anywhere else on television in the United States would we have been allowed to just follow our path. Every now and then there was a question about, “this seems a little bit too naked.” Or, “that might be slightly too violent.” I remember one of the biggest ones was my original idea of stabbing Lucretia, pregnant Lucretia, in the stomach in the end of season one. And at the time they said, “You can’t do that, are you nuts?” Everybody will hate Crixus if he does that.” And I said, “Lucretia is evil, they won’t hate him.”

And then I waited, I bided my time for around four or five months. And then when we got to the end of that first season the idea popped up of Lucretia actually surviving the slaughter and I saw my chance and I sprung and said, “What if the only way she could possibly survive is if Crixus stabs her in the stomach?” Because otherwise he’s going to chop her head off. So I squeaked that one by.

Liam McIntyre: They probably didn’t win many of those battles by the sounds of things. If you’re talking about (unintelligible) right?

Steven S. DeKnight: You know, I thought there was going to be a bit of perhaps an argument of Lucretia taking the baby over the cliff at the end of last season. And I was shocked nobody said a peep about it, everyone was fine. At that point everybody thought that was a great operatic ending. So they have been just fantastic and very supportive creatively. For the next project I’m working on developing a show for Starz called Incursion that’s literally light years away from Spartacus. It’s set in the future, it’s a science fiction military show about this war on another planet. So it’s very, very different.

That said, I’d like to take some of the same elements that I love about Spartacus. Not specific elements, but the general feel. With Spartacus Rob Talpert and I always approached it that our job number one among all else was to entertain the audience. And we wanted to, you know, make sure it was emotional, and twisty, and turvy, and surprising. But we never wanted to lose sight of the fact that we wanted the audience to enjoy the show. And I think too often on this television landscape, especially once you get to premium cable, sometimes you can lose sight of the fact that there is an audience. You’re not just making the show for yourself. And, you know, it’s not a sin to actually have people enjoy what they’re watching.

There is, however, a chance you win less awards that way. But I think it’s a fine, fine trade off to have the audience actually enjoy what you’re doing.

Is there enough in terms of it being – you know there is a lot of war in Spartacus, seems that war is the center of it. Is there a different approach to how you want to explore war? You know, obviously the timeframe is going to dictate a lot of that. But dramatically, considering that’s where a lot of your writing comes from, what is the future, or space, or that new environment giving to you to look at?

Steven S. DeKnight:You know Spartacus I always approached it as a grand operatic canvas. And that’s where everything is, the emotion, the language, the violence, they’re all bigger than life. They’re all stylized really. In the best kind of way, in the way that I love. With the new show I’m looking to do the reverse. Where everything is much more real. You know, where the violence is very – it will be graphic, but it will be very real. And I really want to explore what happens to a person during war. How a person changes, and also explore – there’s a very strong religious undertone to the show. And explore religion and differences of religion. And how your ideas about God and faith can change during war time.

There's more! Read the rest of the conversation here.

Spartacus: War of the Damned premieres Friday, January 25 at 9:00 p.m. Et on Starz.

More than a year ago, we saw the trailer for a documentary in the works that focuses on the well known showrunners of some of the more popular series in recent history. The film is almost complete and still seeking funding, and now it has a new trailer, which features appearances by Joss Whedon, Steven S. DeKnight and Bill Prady, among others.

Directed by Des Doyle and produced by John Wallace and Ryan Patrick McGuffey, Showrunners is a documentary that explores the challenges of writing and running a successful TV series. The previously released trailer made the rounds in Spring 2011, and featured Damon Lindelof (Lost), Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy) and David Eick (Battlestar Galactica), among others, as they talk about about what they do for a living. Well over a year later, we have another look at the film, which seems like a fascinating look into the inner workings of a TV show from the writers' perspectives. Check out the new trailer below.

This new trailer includes footage from last summer's Comic Con, including a glimpse behind the curtain of the Spartacus: Vengeance panel, which is where Steven S. DeKnight's brief interview comes in, as he describes the San Diego convention as like a rock concert for a showrunner. It's a fitting metaphor as I've often said SDCC feels like a rock concert for geeks. And if that's the case, a man like DeKnight - who is not only the Spartacus showrunner, but has also written for Buffy, Dollhouse, Angel and Smallville - is most definitely the rock star in the scenario. The same would apply to TV writers like Shawn Ryan (The Shield), Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jane Espenson (Buffy, Battlestar Galactica, Once Upon a Time), Hart Hanson (Bones) and Bill Prady (The Big Bang Theory), all of whom are featured in the new promo. Needless to say, the line-up of beloved TV writers in this film is pretty fantastic.

Showrunners currently has a kickstarter page set up and they're looking to raise money to get the film completed. Those interested in donating can check out that site here.

With Spartacus drawing to a close with its upcoming final season Spartacus: War of the Damned set to premiere on Starz in January, we're left to wonder what series creator Steven DeKnight will do next. Starz answered that question when they recently announced that DeKnight has a new sci-fi project in development called Incursion. We spoke with him about it on Friday when we had the opportunity to sit with him to discuss Spartacus at Comic Con and he had some interesting details to share on what they have in mind for the series.

Before we get to that, for those who missed the recent announcement, here's the description Starz shared on the project:

I asked DeKnight about Incursion, specifically the mention of the characters fighting on a different planet each season. From the sound of it, they already have ideas about the kinds of settings they might explore (literally) for the show.

Using actual locations sounds amazing, but it could also prove to be limiting as far as the budget and (in the case of an ice planet) weather conditions. It also sounds like they'd aim to bring the same (or most of the same) main characters back each season. But if you're familiar with DeKnight's style from Spartacus, you know that he's not averse to killing off his characters if the story calls for it. With the mentioned battle scenarios involved in Incursion's premise, characters deaths seem inevitable. DeKnight confirmed as much. "Much like Spartacus there'll be main characters," DeKnight said. "But it's war, so somebody's going to get their head shot off sooner or later."

The more I hear about this project, the more I hope things work out and we see it airing on Starz (and soon).

And to see what he had to say about Season 3 of Spartacus, check out our video interviews here.

What a bittersweet way to start the week. While we still have months and months to wait for the return of Spartacus for its third season, the series' fourth installment now has a title! And it's a good one. Following last season's Spartacus: Vengeance, is Season 3, officially titled (drumroll please): Spartacus: War of the Damned. Pretty ominous sounding! The title is the sweet news. The bitter part is that War of the Damned will be the conclusion of the saga. Say it aint so!

Starz made the official announcement today, announcing the title and stating that the 10-episode season, which will premiere January 2013, will be the conclusion of the saga.

While it's sad news to learn that we only have one more season left of Spartacus, I'm going to try to be optimistic about this, as it sounds like the decision came from DeKnight and the other people involved in the show. At least, that's how it's being announced. Whether or not that's actually or fully the case, the writers know it's the last season and at the very least, will be able to shape War of the Damned as a conclusion to the series, so we'll have some proper closure. Still, it's going to be very sad to see the show go as it's become one of my favorite dramas on television.

Here's the information Starz released on Spartacus: War of the Damned:

It sounds like it's all building up to something big, and with the series' conclusion in mind, we might be able to expect something truly glorious from Spartacus come January.

Earlier this week, we shared some of the highlights of an interview Spartacus creator Steven DeKnight did with the press following last Friday’s excellent Vengeance season finale. Today, as promised, we have the full transcript of the conference call. Be warned, not only does it contain some Spartacus Season 3 spoilers (and major Vengeance spoilers if you aren't caught up!), but it’s also quite lengthy. But if you’re looking for some insights on the conclusion of Vengeance, including how things went for Lucretia, Ilithyia and Ashur, and some information on where things are going in the series’ third season, you’ll find lots of interesting tidbits here.

Is there a part of you that I guess regrets, you know, killing X character off and not being able to tell their story anymore in the future?

Steven DeKnight: There’s actually two answers to that question. I never really regret killing a character off, because I feel like when I do kill a character off, it serves a specific purpose, and either that character has run its course, or that character needs to die to propel the hero in a new direction or further his direction. That said, there are plenty of actors that I really miss, and plenty of character traits that I miss.

A good example is John Hannah from season one. His portrayal of Batiatus really brought something fantastic to the show. But for the story to continue, Spartacus needed to kill him for that season to have its closure and to feel like the hero had a major victory in moving forward in his story. So for that reason, a really fantastic character and a fantastic actor had to go.

So I definitely miss John Hannah on the show, as I’m going to miss everyone that was killed off this season. But I don’t regret any of those

That was quite a season finale. It was a total bloodbath. I loved it even though as you say we’re going to miss the characters.I’m wondering where do we go next season. Based on history, will be seeing Carthage or Pompei? Where do we go next season?

Yes. Next season we finally after three seasons of talking about him will be introduced to Marcus Crassus, and we’ll start that section of the war. Next season we’re actually going to jump forward about six months, so we’re deep into the war. Spartacus’s army has grown to what it is in history, where it’s on the way of being that big. It’s not a few hundred people. It’s thousands of runaway slaves that have joined his cause.

So Crassus will be brought in to try to quell the rebellion, and he will enlist Julius Caesar to help them. And this is a young Julius Caesar, right around 27. I’ve already been pelted by messages on the Internet. You know, you’re ruining history. Julius Caesar has nothing to do with the Spartacus war - which is actually true and not true.

This is an odd period in Julius Caesar’s history. A man that we know so much about, this time period there’s not a lot known about him except that he was a military tribune in Rome. And all accounts that I’ve read so far, most of them say he may have been or most likely was part of this army sent after Spartacus, especially since he does have a relationship with Crassus.

It’s often a bit of a tumultuous relationship, but they do know each other, and of course as everyone knows, according to history, Crassus, Caesar, and Pompey overthrow the republic later on. So that’s the basic plan about what’s coming up. It is definitely the war years in these - in the third servile war.

Now with Spartacus’ history being so vague at different times, has that been a little bit freeing for you, as the creator and the writer on the show to be able to be creative and do things like including Julius Caesar where maybe, you know, folks think that he wasn’t there or what not?

Yes, the fact that there are large gaps in what is known in this time period especially about Spartacus has been incredibly liberating to actually tell the story. And next season we are taking a lot of these events that are known and putting a dramatic spin on them. And the fact that there aren’t a lot of facts (unintelligible) really helps us (unintelligible) to develop a dramatic story.

Just as I always say, Spartacus is not a documentary. You shouldn’t write a term paper based on this show. First and foremost, it’s entertainment. So to me that’s my job #1, is to entertain the audience. My job #2 is not to completely turn my back on history. I do like to stay - we call it historically adjacent. We want to be in the neighborhood of history and not go completely off the rails.

I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the decision as far as how things played out with Lucretia, and whether or not Lucy Lawless will be around at all, like maybe in a flashback capacity or something in [the next] season, or is she completely gone from the show?

I never rule out a good flashback. But the decision to kill Lucretia’s character actually starts way back at the end of season one, when I decided to kill her the first time. So it always makes me chuckle when I read that you know, people are saying, you killed Lucy Lawless; I’ll never watch this show again, because in my mind Lucretia got a reprieve. She was in a six-episode prequel and then another entire season when she was supposed to be dead at the end of season one.

?And going back to season one, I really felt at the time when I was structuring it that Spartacus had to kill Badiatus, and Crixus had to kill Lucretia for what they did. And we actually shot it both ways. We shot it where Lucretia was clearly dead at the end of season one and one where she was still twitching, because there was still some discussion. And I was approached by Starz and my producing partner, Rob Tapert, who is married to Lucy. And the concern was in the second season should we bring back what is arguably the biggest name in the show. And I was actually adamant, no, she had to die. It wouldn't work any other way. So graciously everyone said okay, you know what you’re doing. And then the next morning in the shower before I came to work, I had this idea about Mad Lucretia, a take on Mad Ophelia.

And I thought at the time, wouldn't it be great if Ilithyia is pregnant, and Lucretia, criminally insane at this point, has designs on this child? And the audience will think she wants to take the child and run away with it, but if you look back over the season, you realize she wants to take the child to her dead husband in the afterlife. And she goes over the cliff. So that’s the idea I had that morning. I called Rob up and said Rob, I’ve got an idea.

So she was brought back based on this idea. We didn’t bring her back and then decide what to do with her. I wanted to know clearly where that character ended, and I also thought that Lucretia and Ilithyia both had to die together to really conclude that story line. So that was the entire thrust of bringing her back, is that she is to be intimately tied in with Ilithyia, and their storyline had to end together in a grand operatic fashion.

I just want to add, though, I love that you used the cliff. I thought that was fantastic because I love the cliff. And now I’m wondering is there any chance that Ilithyia is going to get a reprieve this - for next season, or is she completely gone?

She’s completely dead, and one of the reasons that we did that is especially - I mean, so many characters died, but especially with Lucretia and Ilithyia, we really looked at what was coming next in the story with Crassus and Caesar launching a full-scale war against the rebel slaves. Ilithyia and Lucretia just didn't have a place in that world.

There was no scenario where Crassus was going to take those two with him or take Ilithyia with him. Crassus doesn't know them. They would be damaged goods no matter how you sliced it. So they really didn’t fit into the world, and we felt that jamming a character into the season just to bring the actor or actress back just didn’t feel right.

And as much as the audience may love that character, I personally think that if you don’t do the character justice in a season, they will start to not like that character, and they’ll peak in memory of that character, so best to end on a high note. Could she come back in a flashback? Absolutely possible, but no plans at the moment.

But I absolutely love Viva Bianca and Lucy Lawless, and they were fantastic together. So I won’t rule out a flashback, but at this point there’s no plans.

What was going through Ashur’s head when he was going up that mountain to where - because he knows that he was being sent to his death, but I got the feeling that he thought some kind of way he was going to figure out how to get out of there.

He was hopeful that he could talk his way out of it, and that’s why he does the thing at the end about, I’ll deliver your message, and tries to get out of there. So yes, he knew he was fucked, but there was a hope that perhaps he could use the whole offer from Glaber situation to at least get him out of this one.

I’m interested, was that part of why he didn’t just kill Naevia initially like with the fight?

Well, yes. I mean, the moment he kills Naevia, he's knows he’s going to get it. So it's best not to do it quickly. Also, if Ashur has a chance to emotionally torture you, he will. He just cannot help himself. And the emotional torture here is he didn't give a shit about Naevia. His emotional torture was directed towards Crixus in this final fight, you know, to make - to have Crixus watch the woman that he loves get dismantled. He knows how much that pains a man that he hates.

As I was watching the season, Lucretia was usually very good with her schemes in season one and in the prequel. All her schemes seemed to work, but this season it was like she was daunted by kryptonite. Everything that she tried to do - none of her plans worked until the very end, and I couldn’t wrap my brain around the fact of why she didn’t kill Ashur sooner, I guess.

Well, killing Ashur is very tricky in the situation she’s in. If she was still the domina of the house, she may have been able to work something out. But Ashur at this point , he’s a made man. He is vital to Glaber. When he starts - when he turns the tables on her, he has become a man that Glaber needs. And for her to make any move on him is ridiculously dangerous and could go horribly awry. So I mean, that’s the reason that she has to bide her time to take Ashur out and be very careful that it didn’t blow back on her.

Is that part of her insanity, I guess?

It’s not so much insanity. At that point it’s self-preservation. There's no easy way for her to kill Ashur and not have it point back to her. If she goes down to his cell, there's guards outside the cell, she's seen in his cell and then he ends up dead, the finger only points one way. So she has no choice. And you'll see that 99% of their scenes are in Ashur's cell by design.

It sounds like you’re going to be doing some major castings. I kind of wanted to ask a couple questions about that, like obviously when you first start a show, the - you as all of the running the show out here right from LA and stuff, you’re involved in the casting of the major characters, but I wondered how much of the day-to-day casting you get involved in, of - you know, or is it all done, you know, onsite?

No, we do a lot of casting in New Zealand, but as they say, there’s an app for that. There’s a Web site, since production now is a global affair. There’s a Web site that links up for casting, so I see all the auditions, and my partners and I talk about all the casting, and it’s all the casting. If a guy walks on and has just one line, we all look at the choices and pick somebody.

So are you linked by camera to when the actual audition is happening, or do you just watch the tape afterwards?

We watch the tape. It’s pretty much the same thing that I would do in LA if I’m not in casting. You know, before they had the system on the Internet, you would get tapes of the actors and you’d sort through them, but now you can just log on and go through them all on computer.

Now that you’ve written for these actors for quite a while and stuff, you always hear about how it’s a collaboration and you’re giving them stuff to do. They come back and they interpret it and sometimes it surprises you, and then the writers, you know, write to that kind of strength if they like it. So I was just wondering if you had some examples of something that’s surprised you in such a way that you incorporated it.

That’s a good question. It’s interesting; on a show like this we usually are so deep into writing the season before we start that any kind of tinkering we do is in the season after. For example, right now at ten episodes, we are finishing up the break of episode seven, which means we’ll be finished breaking episode eight before we start shooting this season.

So won’t actually get dailies or cuts until we’re practically done writing the whole thing. But thinking about things that we have seen, there are small things we incorporate, like Nick Tarabay is a perfect example. Early on in season one there was a scene where something terrible was happening, and Nick Tarabay who’s playing Ashur was in the background eating almonds, which wasn’t scripted that he was munching on a snack while he was watching this horrible thing happen.

So we saw that and immediately we said, all right, listen, Ashur should always be snacking on something when there’s trouble brewing. It was a little character trait that Nick brought. And moving forward in a show, once you have episodes cut together and you see what people are doing, I think even at a subconscious level we start writing to people’s strengths, but mostly I’ll be honest, on the writing side it’s especially on this show with the language, it is so difficult to construct a story and write the dialogue. Often that’s our only concern, and we just - we let the actors do what the actors do, and we know they’ll bring something to it.

Now that we’ve left Capua and Spartacus’ army will be - they’re being forced to go up against Roman legions, what can we expect in terms of the scope of next season’s battles and locations?

Well, as you can imagine, it’ll be shockingly even bigger. Since we’ve said goodbye to (Delutus). We’ve said goodbye to the city of Capua, the arena, you know, we’ve finished up our run at the temple in the shadow of Vesuvius. So it will literally be entirely new locations and sets. And the war does take us all over the Republic. It takes us from the Alps, to Campania, down to the boot of Italy right across from Sicilia. So we will be all over the map with some fantastic locations, of course all shot inside. But they should look really, really fantastic.

What can we expect from just the next season, like with the first episode, because in the season two, it was a pretty big bang in my opinion, especially with you know, traveling through a whorehouse and someone gets stabbed in the back of the neck. How are you going to like, try to top that again with season three?

The way I try to top it is not to worry about topping it, much like my answer to the last question. The stories are so difficult to construct. If we got caught up in worrying about topping something that came before, we’d just spin our wheels all the time. I can tell you the major difference starting out on this next season is that in each of the previous seasons, the heroes have really taken it on the chin.

They start off in a bad place and have to work their way out of it. This season it’s a little bit different. This season we come in on the rebels and they've been doing very, very well, and Rome is now worried that this tiny little rebellion of slaves is growing into something that could be a major, major threat to the Republic. So the switch-up here is that it’s the Romans who are in trouble when we open up the next season, and it's Spartacus who is on a very good run.

You mentioned sort of the ambiguity as far as you know, what Caesar was doing, and his sort of role in that sort of allows you to play some with Crassus, but how much do you use the historical accounts to influence the personalities of the characters themselves?

Quite a bit, quite a bit. And you know, sometimes of course we have to tweak that. One of the liberating things on the Spartacus side is that there is nothing known about any of them and their characters. The fragments that are left from the third servile war tell very little about the emotional state or the relationships of Crixus, of Spartacus, of Gannicus, so you know, we were able to construct that.

Nowhere in the accounts was you know, did Crixus fall in love with a body slave, and there was nothing about, you know, Gannicus having an affair with Oenomaus’s wife. A lot of the accounts are purely this battle was fought, and these were the strategies, and this is who won. So it really lacks that emotional level. When we get to Crassus and Caesar, it’s very different. There's quite a bit of material written on them, their relationships, their character.

There’s a little less latitude, although I'm always interested in finding the things in there that may be suggested by history or can be extrapolated or can be created to give an extra dimension to the character that’s not written on the page. Caesar was perhaps the most well-documented man in ancient Rome.

There's been so much written about him, and like I said, thankfully this is a period of time where it’s a little sketchier, so we can definitely add our own thing to it. But and just a small detail this might throw (unintelligible), Caesar was famous for speaking about himself in the third person, which I'm curious about investigating. It might be a small character trait that we bring in based on history. But I also love to just pepper in little bits of history that you know, the average viewer may not pick up on, but I just think it adds to the overall feel of authenticity of the period.

Can we ask what is going to be the name of the next season, the subtitle?

We are still discussing that. Doing each season with a subtitle I think was my best worst idea. I’ll tell you, it's tough. The only time it was ever easy was season one where we were at a meeting and I just threw out, you know, each season will be something different, like “Blood and Sand.” And everybody was like, "Oh, that sounds good." And it just stuck and there was no discussion. But from that point on, “Gods of the Arena” was a nightmare to pick. “Vengeance”, we went around and around. I mean, for months we’d go round and round and round. So we're zeroing in on something that I think we all like, but we're still talking about it.

Spartacus, to me, one of the greatest things about it has been it is a strong casting and show for women on television. You don’t throw a nude body in there of a girl, even though sexuality is a big play in the show. It’s realistic. The women have their own dimensions, and with season three moving over with having Simon and Todd play Julius Caesar and Marcus, how is that going to affect how female characters are going to go? You’ve talked a lot about how they - how you’re having to play - I mean, I love the fact that you brought out the teaser in some ways with the John McCain of his time being (unintelligible).

How are you going to form that, because you have one who wants to become a great general, and you have one a few things which has been kind of agreed upon about Caesar, is he really from a young age wanted to go to the higher power. And (unintelligible) Crassus was also a much richer man than Caesar at that time.

Oh, much, much. Yes, that’s a very interesting dynamic, and what I was curious about bringing about, bringing these two together at this time period, is the why of it. Why would Crassus want Caesar? And talking to my historical consultants, it became very clear that Crassus and Caesar are two parts of the puzzle that each of the men need. Crassus has the money, but he doesn't have the name.

He doesn’t have that storied family name. He's not descended from a god as Caesar's ancestry traces back to. Caesar, on the other hand, has the Julian name. He has that upper-class desirable family name, but he has no money. He’s living at this time in you know, what's considered a very lower-class, working-class almost slum area of Rome when he’s not abroad, which he is quite a bit.

So basically, these two come together because Crassus has the money but not the name and Caesar has the name but not the money, and together they think they can actually do something great. And historically, Crassus did in fact fund Caesar and help him out quite a bit financially. So they don't always see eye-to-eye, and historically, you know, they had a very rocky relationship. They weren't, you know, like tight brothers, so I definitely want to play with that too.

So do you think this dynamic which could almost be its own story in itself, how is that going to affect the female characters? We see some (unintelligible) you’re really keeping in two very powerful and for a lot of the audience at least somewhat main characters which are male. To keep that strength with the female characters, with a lot of the killing that’s just gone on...

Yes, we’re also bringing in three new female characters which I can’t talk about, but we’re bringing them in, and of course we will still be following and developing the Naevia story and we’ll be bringing Saxa, the German warrior woman, up to a more prominent part. So I definitely don’t want to lose sight of the female characters.

The trickiest thing on this show is when we kill off somebody is resisting bringing back a character that takes that place. We had this discussion moving into Vengeance, about you know, it would really be nice to have a Batiatus type character, a guy who talks like that and acts like that. My ultimate feeling was if you try to bring in a Batiatus substitute, the audience will smell that a mile away.

You can’t replace a character that really hits like that, and I feel the same way with the female characters. There was a lot of discussion going into this season about you know, we should really bring in two Roman women who, you know, are constantly maneuvering around each other. My feeling was, well that’s Lucretia and Ilithyia. Let’s not do that again. That storyline worked out great. If we try to reproduce that, it’ll just feel like a pale imitation.

So there are new female characters. They will not be the same type of characters. They will have different stories and different strengths and different weaknesses. But I definitely, definitely want to, you know - do not wipe out all the female characters. And it was a discussion we had that having killed a lot of people in the finale, half of them were important female characters, and we definitely want to bring more in, but of a very different type.

What are you considering for new male characters coming up in season three of Spartacus?

Right. Well, the main ones are of course Crassus and Caesar, and we have several others that are popping up. I can't give details because it would ruin what's going to happen, but some very interesting characters that Spartacus comes across, and also on the Roman side some very interesting characters. I can throw out one Roman side.

We will see Crassus' son Publius. He will be part of the story line. Historically, Publius was actually Crassus' stepson, since Crassus' brother, also named Publius, died, and Crassus married his brother's wife, which was very common at the time, not a love thing. It was to keep the money in the family and the holdings in the family.

For our story it became incredibly convoluted and difficult to explain the backstory without a two-page exposition piece. So we have simplified it, that it is Crassus' son Publius. And he will play a major role in this next season.

Regarding both the female characters, the new ones, and the new male characters, have all the casting decisions been made or are you still looking for additional actors for Spartacus in season three?

All of the major characters have been cast at this point. We had to, especially on the male side, we had to get everybody down to boot camp, which started this past week. There’s still a couple of minor characters and characters who don’t show up until mid-season that we haven’t cast yet, but all the major players we have locked in.

Much of the series so far has been about Spartacus being driven by loss and revenge, and now that he’s essentially lost two women in his life, on the other hand we have Crixus, who seems to be driven by love. Do you foresee those two characters clashing heads once again in the upcoming season?

Well, historically, the rebels were constantly clashing and breaking apart. And one of the things that we really wanted to explore is why this happened. In the history it just says they fell apart. It doesn’t tell you why they fell apart, so that’s definitely a big part of this next season.

And you’re absolutely right. Crixus is very much driven by love, and Spartacus with his loss and Spartacus at the end of Vengeance actually gained some bit of closure. He's now killed Batiatus and he’s now killed Glaber, the two men that he really thinks are most responsible for his wife's death. Moving into the next season the question is, what drives him now? Yes, there’s the sense that, I don’t want this to ever happen to another innocent person.

But the question does rise, how do you define victory? When is it enough? And this is something that will really haunt Spartacus through most of this season, is you know, what is the end point? Is it to overthrow Rome, and then what happens? Which goes into a deeper sense of war, and you know, when is a war over? And is it ever over for people like Spartacus?

Now that he has had his vengeance, and you’ve mentioned before that this is going to leave him a bit empty going forward, do you think that the fans’ perception of the character will change to the point where they no longer view him as that much of a heroic figure when the lines become blurred?

That’s another very interesting question that we’ve discussed about this upcoming season, is again, historically people have a very romanticized vision of Spartacus and his rebels escaping and fighting for freedom, where in reality, if you read the history, and now of course the history was written by the Romans - but if you read the history, what they did is they escaped and they raped and pillaged and robbed their way through Italy, through the Republic, very brutally exacting their revenge.

And it’s something we didn't want to shy away from, is this brutality and this idea of war crimes and how do you not become the enemy you're fighting. So it does get dirty; it does get very grey next season. And Spartacus of course is our moral center trying to hold things together, but he also completely understands why you would want to do this to the Romans, why you would want to make them suffer even more than you suffered. So it is a very, very dirty season. Everyone morally and ethically gets a little muddied in the next season.

I wanted to find out if you could perhaps tell us, what were some of the biggest writing as well as production challenges would you say originally getting Spartacus off the ground?

Jesus. So every single one. It’s a story I’ve told before that you know, people ask me, were you always interested in Roman history; was it your passion project? And I was just a gun for hire. The concept of doing Spartacus, like 300, all shot inside with green screen CGI backgrounds and kind of a heightened graphic novel aesthetic was sold to Starz by Rob Tapert, Sam Rami, and (Josh Donnin), before I was approached about the project, and then I came on to, you know, figure out what the actual story was.

But the challenges were just monumental. It really was one big experiment of can you do something like that, can you take the visual concepts and aesthetic that (Zach Snyder) so brilliantly pioneered in 300, and apply that to a television show where the time restrictions and the money restrictions are just massive? So it was really a learn-as-you-go compounded by - the problem compounded by the fact that we went straight to 13 episodes.

There was no pilot, so we didn’t have time to go back and retool the pilot, rewrite the pilot, reshoot a lot of the pilot, the way you normally would. We had to - a week later start shooting episode two. So that’s also one of the reasons, if you go back to the beginning of the series and I’ve gone on record not being the greatest fan of the first episode. I think the writing is suspect.

Everything is just a little off, as we figured it out, and it took us a couple of episodes to really dial in the whole feel of the show. So yes, I mean, every single thing was a challenge from the costuming where everything had to be built for the show, to the sets, to the visual effects, especially on this show where literally every single thing you see on the screen was built specially for the show, the weapons, the furniture, everything.

You can’t go into a store and buy something off the rack for Spartacus. It’s all hand-made and hand-crafted, and yes, the whole thing is a challenge.

I wanted to find out, Steven, what would you say makes a career in this industry rewarding for you so far?

That’s an interesting question. You know, honestly, it’s doing something that excites you, and doing something that when you see the finished product on the screen, you’re just as enthralled and excited as if you had nothing to do with it, and I’ve been very lucky in my career to work with some great people, Joss Whedon number one among them in my time on Buffy and Angel, which is thrilling in its own right, to work on something you’re so excited about.

But once you get to the level of creating a show and working on a show, in that kind of excruciating detail, you really, really hope that it’s a show you’re excited to work on, and not a show you have to drag yourself, you know, to your computer every day to write for the paycheck. And that’s the great thing about this job - a lot of people will say it’s not about the money, but it really isn’t on this show.

It’s just such a fantastic opportunity that I never, never in my life dreamed that I would be able to not only work on a show like Spartacus, but create it and executive produce it along with my partners, and just be involved in a show that just excites me every day. And the other part of that equation is working on this show with Starz, where they give us absolute creative freedom, as evidenced by the season finale this year. If I was on network television, I guarantee you they wouldn’t let me kill off all those main characters, and they certainly wouldn’t have let me take a baby over a cliff.

So I feel like I’m just in this dreamlike position of being on a show that I love and having a network that is incredibly supportive and allows full creative control, which is so rare these days. Usually you’re just micromanaged to death. But Starz just really gives us a lot of latitude.

Were you guys were interested in expanding Spartacus games to other consoles. I know personally I’d love to sling a sword around on the Wii and train to be a gladiator.

You know, so would I. We’re always talking about that, so hopefully one day it will happen. I would love to play a Spartacus game.

know we had talked about it in the past, but are you ever interested in taking Spartacus onto the big screen, or for you is half the appeal of the show keeping it that it’s only on television as you’re creating this full-screen effect but on the small screen.

Yes, every now and then we’ll have a discussion about a possible Spartacus movie. The tricky thing is I think it would have to be a spin-off movie, because the central concept of Spartacus and following the history, I wouldn’t want to go off and tell a chunk of the show on the big screen and take that away from people who have been watching it as a series.

Now does that mean there couldn’t be a spin-off within this world? Absolutely possible. Could you see a Gannicus movie about what happened to him when he was free? You never know. There’s no plans at the moment, but I’d certainly entertain that, time and schedule permitting.

One of my favorite things about the show is the relationship between Spartacus and Crixus, and now of course adding to the dynamic is Gannicus, so while they are on the same page right now, is there going to be more tension between them, or - I can’t imagine that such three strong guys are going to be able to just flow perfectly through the next season.

Yes, there is definitely going to be tension. Historically there was a lot of tension between these groups, particularly between Spartacus and Crixus, so that’s something we’ve been discussing quite a bit into this season, is what happens between them, and also how do you have tension but not lose that concept of I love you as a brother. I don’t agree with you, but I love you as a brother - which I think is very important, because what I don’t want to do is to regress back to season one where they just hated each other. I think that they’ve come too far for that and respect each other too much for that. But there will be kind of an overall ideology of fallouts about what they’re doing and why they’re doing it and what they should do next.

I know that Gannicus is meant to have a love interest in Saxa possibly next season. Could you tell me anything about that?

It's possible. We're talking about it. I don't want to give too much away. They seem like a good match, but you never know with Gannicus. Gannicus will often not go in the direction that you expect him to. So it's something we might explore. We're still in the early stages of really locking that one down, but yes, it might be interesting.

Season two began with some jaw-dropping moments and got more and more off the track with every episode, culminating in Friday’s craziness. So I was wondering, when you were breaking season two, how did you decide which new characters you were bringing in, history not necessarily being foremost in the development I’m thinking, but you know, how did you decide who you were bringing in and what their arcs would be?

Yes, you know, a lot of that is determined by the first two weeks of any season, we spend just talking about the overview of the story and where we want to go, and what we want to do with the season, and then we figure out, okay, what do we need. For instance, with the brother sister of Seppius and Seppia, I knew I needed conflict for Glaber.

I needed someone that wouldn’t just roll over and say okay, since as a trader of Rome, he pretty much has the power to tell anybody what to do. That’s why we had Seppius was being protected and supported by Berinias, the other trader, so Glaber couldn’t just roll right over him, for political reasons. And I wanted that thorn in his side.

And with his sister, Seppia, I wanted a love interest for Glaber that would help drive a further wedge between Glaber and Ilithyia. So those two developed out of that need. And other minor characters that did pop up, like Lucius, who was at the temple in the shadow of Vesuvius when the rebels showed up. He is not an exact historical character, but there are accounts that free Romans did help Spartacus because they felt as disenfranchised by the patricians in Rome running the government as the slaves did, and we also got to bring in the cleansing that Sulla did to seize lands when he seized the Republic and made it a dictatorship.

So that character came out of wanting to tip the hat at history and also a necessity of having that person that had knowledge that could help the rebels. So really it’s kind of a combination of what do we need story-wise, what do we need emotionally, and how can we link in actual history?

I wanted to say that I really love the relationship between Agron and Nasir this season and wanted to see what were the discussions about that, and what more will we possibly see of them in the new season?

So you’ll definitely see them in the new season. You know, I want to further the relationship, explore the relationship. This season, because there was so much going on this season, you really only got - what I like to say is just a hint of their relationship, which ultimately I think may have worked out to my favor, because just the little bit they had together, they had such great, charming onscreen chemistry, and I don’t think you can use the word adorable - they were just adorable together.

I mean, Agron, who's just a big "I want to kill everyone in my path" suddenly becomes a bit of a puppy dog around Nasir. And it gave us a chance to do something we hadn't had an opportunity to do with our same-sex couples in the past and actually show the relationship from the beginning and develop it slowly. So that, I thought, was just a fantastic opportunity.

Now we did have many discussions early on about a same-sex couple. And there was a discussion about, - should we do something different and make it two women? And Rob Tapert and I, in a stunning male turnaround, both of our feelings was, that just feels like it’s kind of easy and pandering - doing that would be very easily accepted by the men watching the show.

And it had just a quality to it that I’m absolutely not opposed to showing a same-sex relationship between two women, and that is something we may explore in the next season. But it seemed like for this time in our society, it was an easy way out. And we didn't want to take the easy way out.

Yes, how soon did you guys decide that they would also switch clothes?

You know, I wish I could take credit for that brilliant, brilliant idea. That was something actually thrown out by the wardrobe department for that episode, and I thought it was a great, great addition. And it just really goes to show that on a show like this, everybody has such great input and there are all these little details that - you know, like the switching of the clothes, the thing I loved about that is we never call attention to it since it's not actually in the script. So there’s never - we never show it; we never explain it; it just happens. And the audience picks up on it, which is great.

I must applaud you on Sedullus’ death, the face-off where he looks like a reverse Teletubby in a way, and I think that’s why - that’s where some of the confusion comes in, because the show has been very graphic about certain deaths and blood, and so that’s why some people are confused about whether Lucretia and Ilithyia are really dead. Is there a reason why you decided those deaths wouldn’t be as on-screen bloody? There’s a lot of off-screen going on, or glassy eyes, but no like, here’s her womb, and whatever.

Yes. You know, it was all a matter of degrees, of - with Ilithyia and Lucretia, we felt like going - like seeing the knife slice into Ilithyia was a bit too much of a horror show for what we wanted to convey between the two. We thought leaving that to the audience imagination was better. And her going over the cliff, we had a brief discussion. Do we show her splatting?

We all just felt that’s just not the moment. The moment with her going over the cliff is much more of a - we wanted a beautiful, operatic send-off, not something that was gory, and with Ilithyia - Ilithyia’s the one that, we all knew she was dead, and we thought she looked dead.

And then when reviewers - I started doing early interviews and people were asking me, well, she’s not dead, right? She’s just passed out. I was like, but, she’s got her eyes open! She looks dead! So she was dead, but that’s the one death that you know, I wish I could have foreseen the confusion. And I would have gone back and made that final moment with her a little bit bloodier.

But yes, I mean, with those deaths - sometimes with deaths we just wanted it to be more beautiful and dreamlike, and with those two it just felt like that moment should be that kind of thing. But with Sedullus, which is another great addition, I believe in the script he just gets his head cut off.

And then as we were talking about the show, the visual effects department and the stunt department came up with, you know, cutting his face off, which turned out to be, you know, just brilliant. And it's one of those moments that people will talk about all season. Like, "Yes, I just can't believe they cut that guy's face off!"

But it also really worked for the moment, because in that episode is the moment where Spartacus stops trying to make everybody happy and lays down the law and says, "You will do it my way or I will murder you." And nothing says that better than, you know, cutting off the face of a 7-foot-tall giant.

What’s the most outraged reaction have you had to a character’s death?

Well, so far, Varro. I mean, everybody’s just bananas over Varro. People still - I still get angry messages about Varro. That of course - but to me, I mean, Varro’s death still stands as I think one of the best ends to a character on the show, because it had such an emotional impact, and such a twist, and it was so heart-breaking. I thought it may come as no surprise that I’ve gotten some angry messages about Lucy, about killing off Lucretia.

I’ve gotten more than a few, “You’re an idiot. I’ll never watch this show again.” And there was also a lot of discussion about Lucretia, and my plan was to take her over the cliff with the baby, but there was discussion as we got closer to that some worry since we were killing off so many characters and half of them were female, is that should she just take the baby and you know, am-scray and pop up next season.

But my feeling was very strongly that if we brought her back next season it would be a huge disappointment because she has nothing to do with the story, and just to pop in on her with a baby, I think does the character a great, great disservice, as opposed to you know, a grand send-off where Mad Lucretia takes the baby over a cliff, because she thinks she’s taking it to her husband that’s the way for a character to go out.

And I always say on this show, you know, more than likely, 99% of the time, if you’ve got to be killed off on a show, Spartacus is the way to go, because you will get a spectacular finale.

You mentioned the writers are almost done with episode seven of the new season as a creator of the show, how do you feel the series has evolved from your original conception with Blood and Sand?

Well, so far so good. You know, it’s been moving along as I had hoped. Obviously minus the unfortunate passing of Andy Whitfield still shadows our hearts, but the show had always been intended to spend that first year in the Ludus, and then actually tackle the third servile war, so this past season really was our transition period into the big war years.

So, so far it’s been going very well. And I think the thing I’m happiest about is that. Originally the show was sold as an action show, and there’s plenty of action, but what I really wanted to explore is the dramatic side, and really bring to it something that I think is very important, and every season is really about love. It’s - love is so engrained to the story. You know, Spartacus’ love for his wife, and Crixus’ and Naevia’s love for each other - it’s - this past season, Lucretia’s love for her husband.

It’s all about love, at the end of the day, and that’s what really drives everyone. And going into the next season, it’ll be the same thing. It’s very, very deeply about love, with Spartacus being the odd man out at this point, Spartacus feeling like he can’t love anyone, because if he does it’s the kiss of death. He is cursed that anyone that he cares about will more than likely be horribly murdered.

You mentioned way back in the beginning of the call that it was a lot of fun to play with John Hannah’s character when you did Gods of the Arena, to be able to bring him back, and you mentioned that maybe a movie was in the works for a prequel sort of a thing. But the six-episode spin-off - is this something that you think is in the cards for the future to maybe bring some of these actors back and play with their characters a little bit more?

You never know. You know, I’ll never say never. I’m sure it all - the further we move forward, the harder it is to do just with everybody’s schedules, but you know, it’s a world that I would definitely revisit. You know, there are still time periods with Batiatus and Lucretia. There’s obviously the most obvious time period to revisit would be those years that Gannicus was a free man and what he did, not to mention the fact that, you know, we just love working with Dustin Clair. We think he does such a fantastic job. So there’s always opportunity to revisit the world, to spin-off the world. There’s also - there’s a ton of other things going on in the Republic at the time, so yes.

You never know. You never know, and we always joke that, you know, from Gods of the Arena, we have young Vettius that we sent off into the world that was Tullius’ apprentice, that Batiatus and Solonius screwed over and forced out of Capua. So we’re always joking, you know, about - or Vettius popping up again or seeing him in another storyline. So yes, the possibility is always there.

I doubt I’m alone in still grieving the loss of so many characters during last Friday night’s Spartacus: Vengeance finale. Series creator Steven DeKnight spoke to the press today about the finale and what’s ahead for Season 3. If you aren’t caught up on Spartacus: Vengeance, there are major spoilers from the finale mentioned, so stop reading now!

This article does contain some spoilers from Season 3, but they’re mostly vague descriptions. Still, keep that in mind before reading on!

We’re hoping to get a full transcript of the conversation Steven DeKnight had with the press today, in the meantime, we do have some interesting tidbits to share with you, including DeKnight’s story of how he brought Lucretia back from the almost-dead while in the shower, and where things are headed for the third season, including the introduction of Crassus and Caesar, and where they fit historically and dramatically into the series.

Before we get to that, a couple of quick things. First, Season 3 of Spartacus has yet to receive a subtitle, but they’re working on it. It will jump forward about six months after the conclusion of Vengeance. Also, there will be three new female characters introduced to the series, but DeKnight was mum on the details there. It also sounds like Saxa (the blonde, German rebel woman) will be featured a bit more in Season 3. DeKnight wouldn’t confirm whether this includes a romance with Gannicus, but it sounds like a possibility.

On the subject of Season 3, here’s how DeKnight broke things down as far as Crassus and Caesar’s involvement in the story, and where the rebels will be.

DeKnight jumped right into addressing potential historical inaccuracies regarding this, stating:

DeKnight describes his series as “historically adjacent,” and spoke about putting a “dramatic spin” on historical events...

As for Lucretia, it’s likely that fans of hers were disappointed to see her step off the edge of the cliff near the end of Vengeance’s “Wrath of the Gods.” As much as I’m going to miss Lucretia, and Lawless on the series, it was pretty brilliant moment and a conclusion fitting for such an excellent (and clearly mentally unstable) character. I asked DeKnight about the decision to kill of Lucretia, and he explained that it went back to the first season, when she was originally set to die at the hands of Crixus...

So, apparently, Lucretia was on borrowed time as it was. And instead of her death being tied to her relationship with Crixus as it was meant to happen in Season 1, it was tied to her relationship with Ilithyia. Crixus stabbing her was a shocking moment, but watching her tip backwards off the clip was, as DeKnight put it, “grand operatic fashion.” Unfortunately, those of us hoping Ilithyia managed to survive the forced C-section Lucretia gave her, DeKnight confirms that she’s totally dead...

A flashback or two featuring the characters in Season 3 would be great, assuming they can find a way to work them into the story fittingly.

One of the other things DeKnight spoke about, which I thought was especially interesting, was the creative freedom Starz gives him and the other writers with regards to the show. He also mentioned getting to work with Joss Whedon. Fans of the Buffy creator know he’s another one not afraid to cut beloved characters loose.

Hopefully we’ll have the full transcript of the call to share with you soon. In the meantime, we have until January 2013 to speculate (and obsess) over what’s ahead for those characters who did survive Season 2.

Update: Full transcript here!

With the premiere of Spartacus: Vengeance just a couple of weeks away (two, if you’re keeping count), series show-runner Steven S. DeKnight talked to the press about the upcoming season this week. Topics of discussion on the conference call included the “new” Spartacus, played by Liam McIntyre, what to expect from some of the characters, and DeKnight’s thoughts on going from working on shows like Smallville and Joss Whedon’s series (Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse) to the Starz drama.

It should be said right off the bat that DeKnight is very tight-lipped when it comes to spoilers. In fact, he seems to have mastered the art of answering questions without revealing major plot-points. So, if you’re looking for juicy details on Vengeance, you won’t find many below. With that said, we did put spoiler warnings around the questions that tread into specifics about Vengeance. Nothing major is revealed about any of the characters, but if you’re looking to go into the new season without knowing anything about what’s ahead, avoid the spoiler questions.

Beyond that, DeKnight had some really interesting things to say about the show. He talks about the critical response to the pilot, his leap as a writer from network TV to premium cable, the language used in the series, writing for genre television (with nods to Lost and Battlestar Galactica mentioned) and some other fascinating tidbits about Starz’ underrated drama. He also mentions another project he might be working on for the network, which from the sound of it, is in the very early (early, early) phases of development.

So, one of the things I really love about the show is that no character is safe at any time and how do you go about deciding which of the characters should go and when and is there any character that you wish you still had for this upcoming season.

Yes, there's always a question of… on this show characters literally get the ax. I think really ultimately for me it comes from… how is the story best served by a character death. I don't ever want somebody to just die. It needs to have ramifications either emotionally or towards the plot. So that's always the number one driving force of - on who do I kill.

And do I miss people? I don't regret killing anyone, but of course, John Hannah, number one. His presence was just so fantastic on the show and he was such a joy to work with and write for. You know, he's definitely - he had to go, but that was a painful one.

(SPOILER) In the second episode of the season we get like a Oenomaus origin story. Can we expect that to be a similar format for some of the other characters later in the season?

No. Oenomaus was kind of a special case because this is something that we hint at in Season 1 and we hint at even more strongly in Gods of the Arena with his relationship with Titus Batiatus. So we always wanted to explore that in a one episode quasi-flashback kind of way. Something like that might happen in future seasons, but that's the only time it happens (in this).

(End Spoiler)

I've had a chance to preview the premiere episode and I have to say - I want to congratulate you for hiring Liam on as Spartacus because I feel like he captures the essence of what (Andy) started but makes it his own.

Right. Thank you, yes. And that's really what drew us to Liam is that we didn't want to try to duplicate (Andy). I mean, that will never happen. He was such a singular, amazing talent. But we wanted to find somebody that had the same base qualities of compassion. And I told all the actors when they auditioned that even though Spartacus may fly into a rage now and then, he never comes from a place of anger, it's always from a place of a wounded heart. And we really felt like Liam captured that essence.

The character that I fell in love with is Gannicus, so I'm really curious to find out how he ends up coming back into the picture. Like maybe you can tell me under what circumstance.

Why that would be giving away too much. I can tell you that he comes back in a very unexpected way. It's not what you would think. And one of the things I love about the show and one of the things I wanted to do from the start is that our band of heroes are seldom - they're not Robin Hood and the merry men. They have a lot of problems internally, which is - it's very historical since they kept breaking apart and, you know, different groups would split away from Spartacus. So I can say when Gannicus comes back, it's not a happy reunion. There's definitely a lot of problems that come with him.

Beyond the vengeance, which of course is the primary thing, what kind of a journey is Spartacus and the other characters on this season?

Well with Spartacus this was always planned to be the season where he goes from a man really searching for his personal redemption in the death of his wife and his feelings of responsibility for that, that's why he wants to exact the vengeance, and transitioning him into a true leader. And it's a very, very bumpy ride for him to go from someone that we see in Season 1 who he's a good man, but he is much more concerned about himself and his wife. Everybody else is secondary. And this is where he starts to move into caring more about the group and putting their needs above his own eventually.

And everybody else, of course, I love to take to people on journeys. Crixus goes - definitely goes on a journey. You know, even characters like Agron, which was one of the two brothers in Season 1 that we didn't get to know that well, has a major story (op). Everybody grows up in this season.

I just wanted to ask you, have you had any criticisms of the show and have or would you adjust anything based on negative feedback?

Yes, of course. I mean, I think the show just welcomes criticism. Especially when we first started out, if everybody remembers back that far, this show was universally hated. You know, we got off to a rocky start. Rob Tapert, my incredible producing partner, and I always say that first episode was by far our weakest one where we were trying to figure out the show and it took a while to get going.

So we took a lot of criticism for too much sex, too much violence, everybody hated the language, not the cursing but the actual language of the show. It just took a while, you know, for everybody to warm up to it. So early on I got a lot of criticism about how people speak, which I steadfastly refused to change.

One of the other things that I'm still to this day getting comments about is, and I put this in air quotes, "all the gay shit" in my show. And people asking me to tone it down, which I always say no. I mean, as far as I'm concerned it's barely in there to start with. And it was part and parcel of this world and it's part and parcel of our world now. So I just - yes, I ignore that. If people want to stop watching the show because two guys kiss, well, I shrug my shoulders. You know, that that will always be in there.

And every now and then somebody will say something about oh it's too violent, oh there's too much sex, but that's the show it is. So basically I guess my answer is sure we get criticism, but, you know, thankfully STARZ is very supportive and we get to tell the story we want to tell.

And prior to coming back for another season, you know, professional athletes have to attend training camp to get in shape. Is there something similar that the actors must go through to appear on Spartacus?

Yes. We have a boot camp every year that is for new people coming in and our returning cast to bone up on their fighting skills and to help them get back into tip-top shape. And I think we're one of the few shows that actually - the men have it rougher than the women because the men are often practically naked all the time, you know, with just a little bit of strategic covering. So they have to watch what they eat and train like crazy for the entire shoot of the show, which is incredibly difficult. But I think the evidence is up on the screen that they literally work their asses off.

And which character on the show do you most relate to?

Well, I've always said that for me, my inner voice is Batiatus. You know, that's - that strangely his ranting profanity-filled monologues I have all the time. But now that he's gone, I guess I don't really have an inner monologue on the show. But, yes, but Batiatus was definitely my - that's the Steve.

Kind of following up on that previous question, is there a character that you wish you could squeeze in more, but you just haven't been able to yet?

Well, yes, we have so much story we try to put into each episode that some characters, you know, we don't get to pay enough to. We felt that way Season 1 with Oenomaus. We felt like there was so much going on with Spartacus and his journey and Batiatus that he got a little bit of short shrift. So we wanted to do more with him in Gods of the Arena and we wanted to do more with him in this season, which is really nice to do.

We have so many characters, it's a bit of a juggling act because we don't want to short change anyone. But yes, I'd say Oenomaus was the one that we felt was underutilized at first and we tried to bring him more to the forefront.

How far in advance do you actually know where you're going with the story? Like do you have next season planned out, if there is a next season already?

Yes, we're actually writing the next season as I speak. Luckily I've got history as a guidepost, so it's just basically each season being, okay, well, how far along do we want to be in history and so we know the basic tent poles of where we're going. And the way it works for us is that at the beginning of each season I get together with the writers and we spend two weeks basically laying out the gist of each episode. The big idea and where we're going with the characters. And then we spend the, you know, the next six, seven months writing the episodes.

Writers always say that as they develop a series, they pick up things from the actors and incorporate them into the way they kind of deal with the characters and stuff, so I was wondering if there are any changes or different approaches now that you've switched from (Andy) to Liam.

That's a good question. Actually no. We had a discussion before we started writing this season of should we tailor the show for Liam. And my feeling and Rob and STARZ, we all agreed, was that no, what we should do is write Spartacus as Spartacus and Liam will bring what he brings to it and it will be a different take, but what he says - what Spartacus says and what he does will still be consistent with the Spartacus that we know.

And the other [question] has to do with you've got awesome stunt coordinators and I was wondering how much you write into the script say the action and the sex and how much do you leave it to the director and the stunt coordinators.

You know, we do - Al Poppleton is just phenomenal. The thing that he does for us, it would not be Spartacus without him. On the page, it depends on what we're describing. Generally if it's a big battle, we'll give the high points and let them work it out. If it's a more intimate one-on-one battle, we'll be more detailed because we'll want the specific moment. And I always try to build a fight with specific emotional moments in it. And then Al and his team will fill in the detail, expand on it, they'll suggest things. So it's kind of 50/50.

With the sex scenes, again, if there's a specific emotion we're looking for, we'll get into a little more detail. Otherwise, we tend to just describe what kind of lovemaking is going on. You know, there's - the words that keep popping up are, you know, tender, gentle, vigorous. Vigorous pops up quite a bit as you can imagine. So that's usually a little less detailed. And again, we're more concerned on the writing side with conveying the emotional beats of what's going on in that situation and we leave the actual technical what's touching what, who's kissing where to the director and the actors.

You've worked on a lot of other shows before you started working on the Spartacus series, how does working on Spartacus now, Spartacus: Vengeance, how does that compare to some of the earlier work that you've done on, you know, Angel, Dollhouse, Smallville, et cetera? Is it easier or is it more difficult? It's a different type of show than those, but what are some of the differences between your previous work and the work you're doing now with Spartacus?

It is. And, you know, I just got to say, first and foremost, I always credit Joss Whedon for really starting my career. I was working on Undressed when he hired me on to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then I went to Angel where he gave me a chance to direct and then I linked up with him again on Dollhouse. Words can't describe how much I've learned from the man.

The biggest difference with this show for me is that all my other work was on broadcast network and this is premium cable. So Al Gough, my old boss from Smallville who watches this show, I bumped into him and he chuckled and he said when he watched Spartacus, he calls it DeKnight unleashed.

And that's exactly how I felt when I got the - got this opportunity that I didn't have to deal with standards and practices anymore. I didn't have to water things down, I could, you know, go to places, not just sexually, not just with the violence, but good characters could do bad things, which is often very difficult to get the network to sign off on. And bad characters could do good things. I got to work in a very gray world, which I think is where the most interesting drama is.

And it's also been the hardest thing I've ever done. Because I had the bright idea of kind of creating a very different kind of language and the way people speak, which is not natural and it doesn't come naturally to write it. So it takes a lot longer to write and it's a bit more of a pain in the ass, but the result I think was very successful in conveying the sense of a different time in history.

Do you consult with historians to help keep the show authentic?

Yes. I have two fantastic historical consultants, Aaron Irvin and Jeffrey Stevens. We brought them on from the start. And they're absolutely instrumental. I bring them into the room every now and then; they get all the outlines, all the scripts. They give us copious notes.

And we always say on Spartacus that we want to be respectful to history, but our first goal is to be entertaining to the audience. So sometimes we do have to bend historical facts and shift things around. But we always try to be very respectful and they are just two fantastic guys that have really contributed a lot to the show.

If these gladiators are such macho men, why do they shave their bodies?

Yes, here's the thing. In ancient Rome, the Romans considered hair to be barbaric. Now they probably would have let the gladiator be barbaric because that was part of the appeal, but for our show there's also an aesthetic value that we need. You know, we need them to look good. You know, having a - we'll pick Manu Bennett for example, who plays Crixus. He is just a chiseled man, a very muscular, and if we would have had him very muscular, but furry like a bear, you wouldn't be able to see that he was very muscular. So it just wouldn’t have the aesthetic value.

And in an in- a very interesting side note, actually the Romans themselves because they considered hair to be barbaric, that's why roman men do not have beards and they actually invented, or I don't know if they invented it but they certainly used it, waxing. They were completely hairless. They had waxers and pluckers. Because they considered hair to be such a barbarian trait.

Will there ever be a movie?

You know, Rob Tapert, Josh Donen, Sam Raimi, and I have always whispered in the hallways about maybe one day to do some kind of spinoff movie. You know, really I think it depends on where we take the show on television and everybody's schedules. But, you know, we'd certainly be interested in one day doing something like that.

One of the things I really like about the show is as masculine as it is, the female characters also sort of get equal time to tell their stories, so I was wondering if you could tell us what Ilithyia, Lucretia, Mira, what their stories will bring in this upcoming season.

Without giving anything away, Ilithyia and Lucretia, which is two of my favorite characters to write especially when they're with each other, they continue their frenemy dance in a very convoluted, unexpected way. What happens between those two is not what you would think is actually going to happen, especially based on where we left them at the end of Season 1. They are in fine form totally. They really continue that storyline in an amazing kind of way.

With Mira, Mira is as we left her in Season 1, she really responded to Spartacus and was falling in love with Spartacus and Spartacus had compassion towards her, but I wouldn't call it love. Where we move with them, they have moved into a quasi-relationship, but it's a relationship that's very bumpy and rocky and may or may not work out in the end.

The action is so great, but have you ever devised a kill or a stunt scene that maybe somebody thought maybe that's a little bit too much and we can't do it?

Actually the end of Gods of the Arena we had many, many discussions about that final kill when Gannicus kills Caberus in the arena where he rips his jaw off. And there was a lot of talk of whether or not - not that was it too much, but would it look right, could we do it, was there a more interesting way to do it. And I felt like it was something I hadn't seen before and our makeup department just did a phenomenal job with that.

We screened that in the CAA Theater for a couple of hundred people and when that happened everybody just leapt out of their seats because it was so gruesome and unexpected. But that's the one for me that really stood out as the one I remember that we had a lot of conversations about.

(Spoiler) Based on the first few episodes of the season, it seems like Ashur is kind of setting up his next few moves. And I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about his motivations as far as vengeance is concerned. Has he put payback against certain people ahead of pushing himself further up the ranks?

What I love about Ashur and the way Nick Tarabay really brings him to life is that Ashur is a guy who ultimately doesn't really think he's the bad guy. You know, he's just a guy trying to navigate the choppy waters of life. And he comes from a place, and we explored this in Season 1 and in Gods of the Arena, of deep insecurity where he feels like he is disrespected and not treated as well as he should be. And those deep seated feelings on insecurity is what really drives him to get to the top.

And in this season, he's out for vengeance against the rebels because he was being promoted to being in the Ludus with Batiatus - being Batiatus' right-hand man, he had finally been elevated and then Spartacus literally topples him off his perch and ruins everything for him. So he's got an ax to grind there. And he also tries to ingratiate himself back in with the Romans.

And you also sort of set it up in Gods of the Arena that Ashur would have a bone to pick kind of literally with Crixus. Is that something that we can expect to be addressed?

Oh yes, he hates Crixus. Absolutely hates Crixus. That's something we played and set up in Season 1 and referenced - one of the things that I love about long form television is that we reference that Crixus crippled Ashur in a fight and then we saw that at the end of Gods of the Arena. So he's - he has always had it out for Crixus to get his revenge.

(End Spoiler)

You sort of referred to it a little bit earlier talking about how it's a little more time consuming to write for this show because of the way the characters speak and everything, and besides the obvious violence and different things like that, that's one of the things I really like about the show is the way they construct their sentences and the way they talk to each other and I was just wondering where did you decided how they speak? Is it based on any kind of Latin or did you just kind of come up with the way that they talk to each other?

Yes, no, it's actually not based on Latin. In fact, in Latin they do use articles. I tend to drop out "ands" and "the's" in the way they speak. And again, it's just to give a flavor of antiquity to the language. For me, I studied as a playwright so I was deeply steeped in Shakespeare, which is really my main influence in the dialogue. Not to say that it's Shakespearean. I call this Shakespeare extra, extra light. I always say the language is a cross between Shakespeare and Robert E. Howard who wrote all the Conan stories. So it's kind of a mash up between those two.

It is absolutely not historically accurate. Much the way - when - and when people bring that up to me about, well, they didn't speak this way in Latin, I always point out, well, in Shakespearean times they didn't speak in iambic pentameter, but that's an affectation to give it a style, which is exactly what we wanted to do on this show. And again, you know, we - about five scripts in after we had done this I realized holy shit, I got to keep writing this way for the rest of the series, which is extremely challenging.

Can you talk about the production treatments and visual effects that go into each episode because it's such a beautifully filmed and unique series?

Yes, it's a massive amount of work. This show because of the time period we're using, every single thing on the show we have to make. Everything down to the chairs, you know, the furniture, the jewelry, everything is handmade. So it's an extremely time consuming process. And even though we shoot everything on green screen, a lot of people have asked me, well, how much of it is green screen, our green screen is basically the background, the backdrops. All of the sets you see, they're real. We actually built the Ludus, we built the training square - the only use of CGI is in the backgrounds with the sky and the landscape beyond our sets. So it takes an amazing amount of work and our team in New Zealand just does an incredible, incredible job. And we shoot everything digitally and then we run it through a post process to get the colors right and to give it that really rich, rich look.

(Spoiler) I was wondering where Lucretia's story is leading her now that she doesn't have a husband anymore and now that she doesn't have the Ludus or any kind of work to support herself.

Yes. She's in a bad state. As seen in the trailer, she's not doing too well when we first find her. Which is not surprising. I mean, it's - she's very lucky to be alive. And a lot of people have asked, well, last we saw her she got stabbed in the stomach and sure she was twitching at the very end of Season 1, but how is it possible she survived. And we do explain how she survived. It's a few episodes in and then we tell you what happened.

For her, she is a shattered woman. And this season is about her putting the pieces of her life back together and trying to move forward. And along with moving forward, much like everyone else this season, she does have some scores to settle. But for her, she's going to have to be incredibly crafty and smart about her maneuvering because now she has absolutely no position whatsoever. She's basically living off the kindness of strangers at this point.

I was also wondering what you have in store for maybe the character of Glaber who is played by Craig Parker I believe.

Yes. Glaber, who we only saw in two episodes back in Season 1, he is a major player this season. He's the big bad of our season. Historically he's the next guy that was sent after Spartacus and we follow that history here, so that he's going to be Spartacus' arch nemesis nipping at his heels for the entire season. (End Spoiler)

The people are always throwing the corpses down the precipice. What is down there actually?

You know, just some jagged rocks. If you're going to throw a body somewhere, I suppose it's off the cliff and just let the animals take care of it. But yes. Yes, usually pretty much every season somebody tends to go over that cliff.

What I read, the second season had already been written when decided to make Gods of Arena. So did you have to rewrite the second season because of the prequel? And if so, how far did it interfere in this new season?

Right. We actually were already working on Season 2. We had written the first couple of episodes and we had a layout for the entire season when unfortunately we found out that (Andy) was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, so we stopped working on that and hatched the plan to do Gods of the Arena to give him a chance to recover. We were finishing up Gods of the Arena when unfortunately we found out that his cancer had returned and he had to permanently step down from the role.

So at that point, after having done Gods of the Arena, yes, we went back and we retooled the first several episodes and made adjustments. And also because we had had time off from the season, when we came back we saw some things we wanted to change story-wise. For example, Episode 2 used to be Episode 3. There was a different Episode 2 that once we looked at it, we decided, yes, it's not really moving the story along and we had an entire script for it, so we threw that script out, took some of the elements, married it with Episode 3 and then moved on from there. But that was really the biggest change that that Episode 2 was a completely different story.

And you wrote series (unintelligible) Buffy, Angel, and Smallville and all of them have nothing to do with this historical series, so I was wondering why Spartacus? Like what made you go into this kind of series.

Oh, I'll tell you. The concept was sold to STARZ before I had heard about it. Rob Tapert, Josh Donen, and Sam Raimi sold the idea to STARZ of doing Spartacus in a 300 style. Because we are all big fans of Zack Snyder's work on 300 and how he technically pushed the art of filmmaking and they really wanted to see if they could do that on the television show. So the concept was sold to STARZ and then STARZ was looking for a writer to come in and spearhead the project. I was working on Dollhouse at the time when I got the call from my agent that Sam Raimi and STARZ wanted to do a gladiator series and that's all I knew. I didn't know it was Spartacus when I went in.

I'm a big fan of period piece movies, especially the sword and sandals epics, but I'm the first to admit I - history was not my strongpoint and the only thing I knew about Roman history was Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus. So I had a lot of reading and catching up to do when I signed on. But yes, the idea for Spartacus was presold before I came on.

And the problem about this history based is that everyone knows how the story is going to end or everyone thinks they know. So I was wondering if you are already 100% certain that you'll follow the historical facts or if there is any chance of changing things and not following the historical facts.

I will follow the historical facts. You know, again, entertainment is our job one on Spartacus, so we will have to take characters, take two or three characters, form them into one character, shuffle some events around to make the story work, not only for production reasons, but just for clarity. But yes, we will basically follow historical facts. In reference to how Spartacus dies, most people think he was nailed to the cross like we see in Stanley Kubrick's movie. That's not actually what happened. And one of the great things about the story of Spartacus is that there's only fragments left in history that gives bits and pieces. And most of those talk about who won this battle, who won that battle, in fact, there's no emotional detail in it. So we are going to basically follow history, but the audience will still be, I think, surprised by how we wrap up the story.

And whenever anybody says to me, you know, well, everybody knows how the story ends, why should they watch, I always reply everybody knew that the Titanic sunk and yet the movie made a billion dollars. So people obviously want to be along for the ride, even if they know the eventual outcome. The trick is to keep it exciting all the way up to the end and then make that ending powerful and emotional and I think people will show up.

You've mentioned Robert E. Howard as an influence and inspiration for kind of the (pulp gen) of the show. What do you like about writing genre fiction and do you feel some people take the show less seriously because it's genre?

Oh, absolutely people take it less seriously. You know, it's - there have been some great, great genre shows on the air that got no love from the Academy. Battlestar Galactica comes to mind, Buffy the Vampire Slayer comes to mind. We're kind of the redheaded stepchild. I think one of the most amazing accomplishments of J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof and Lost was winning that Emmy for a genre show. I mean, it's in- an incredible accomplishment.

And what I love about it is that it really opens up the possibilities of what you can do. It's a little more restrictive on Spartacus since despite all of its trappings, it's, you know, it's not a fantasy show. We can't bring in magic, there are no monsters, you know, everything has to have a real world logic to it. A bigger pulpy logic, but definitely a real world logic to it. It was much easier on Buffy when, you know, we needed to solve a problem and somebody had a mystical doodad that could help us out. That's always a lot easier. But what I also love about genre is just the way you can really heighten emotions and use the situations as metaphors and just make it as powerful and emotional as possible.

I know you can't give too much away, but we've seen some diverse romantic pairings in seasons past, like Barca and his love and Batiatus, Lucretia, and Gaia. Can you (tease) us anything we could expect in this season?

Oh, absolutely. For me approaching the show and I think the causal viewer, you know, and the causal reviewer early on dismissed it as nothing but, you know, blood and sex and violence, where for me this has always been a romance. I love a good romance. And all the relationships on the show, you know, I want this kind of sweeping Last of the Mohicans style romance in it. So yes, this season is no different. There are many romantic plots being played out and subplots. And I think ultimately that's the heart of the series. Without that it would just be blood and sex and violence.

And when you're on the set, like in the first episode we see that epic brothel site, were you there on set for that or in, you know, similar instances when you look around and you go, wow. You know, what goes through your head when you see it all come to life?

Sadly on this show, since we shoot in New Zealand and we write the show in Los Angeles, I don't get a chance to be on the set as much as I would like. I love being on the set. Rob Tapert, my producing partner and husband of course to the amazing Lucy Lawless, he spearheads production down in New Zealand and he keeps a magnificent eye on all of that and I just can't say enough good things about Rob. Without him there wouldn't be a Spartacus.

One of the big questions that I have about the show is what do you feel like the evolution of the series has been up to this point? I mean, you talked a bit about kind of the rocky start at the beginning of the series and kind of finding a vision for it. What do you feel like that is now?

Yes, when we first started off, you know, this was Rob Tapert and Josh Donen and Sam Raimi and I, this was our first foray into premium cable. And, you know, suddenly the shackles were off and I can't speak for my partners, but I think I stripped down naked and ran a little crazy through the streets in the first couple of episodes before I found the right tone.

And if you look at that first episode there were moments that you see the glimmer of what the show will become, but we were trying to really find ourselves in the story, the language, the visual, the directing, the acting, everything was trying to find an equilibrium, which took us a few episodes to get to.

Once we found that, we started to, you know, to really find the right element of the show that each episode needed. And we knew we needed a certain amount of action. We knew that emotions really needed to drive the story. It had to be emotionally based, no matter what was going on, no matter what - whether it's an orgy that's happening, if there's an orgy going on, it can't be about the orgy. It's got to be about who wants what from who and what's the maneuvering and what's the emotional stake.

And the same thing with a fight. There's a, you know, when Crixus and Spartacus fight Theokoles in the arena in the middle of Season 2, it couldn't just be about a fight. What it was really about were these two men trying to find a common ground and come together. So that's really how it developed is just episode now concentrating on what are the emotional stakes. It's very easy in a show like this to get lost in all the shiny objects that are around you all the time. And I do consider the sex and the violence are the shiny objects. And just finding a balance between, you know, that kind of pulpy entertainment and some true human emotion.

Your world is beautifully realized both as sets both digital and physical, the costumes, everything works great together. After two seasons does the research and actualization of the world become easier or is it challenge - is challenging your designers an active concern as you develop scripts and locations for the show? And along with that, which of those visual accomplishments are you most proud of?

It becomes easier, it never becomes easy. Much like the writing, you know, once we locked down how to do it, it doesn’t become as frustratingly impossible. It's still difficult, but, you know, at least we have a handle on it. And it's the same thing for the physical aspects of our show. We have just such great people. Iain Aitken and Barbara Darragh who does our costuming, which is just gorgeous. They put so much effort into it. And when you're on the set for Spartacus, you know, yes, there's a green screen background and you're not outside, but when you're on a set, I'm thinking particularly about Batiatus' Ludus, you just can't imagine the detail that is actually into this set. It's like stepping back in time. It looks so real when you're actually on it.

And it's the same thing with the costuming. The costuming is just absolutely gorgeous. And yes, you know, not 100% is historically accurate. We made that decision early on is that we needed the costuming to have an elegance and a beauty to it, a bit of an enhancement of a more simple Roman style. And the visual effects too. If you look at - from the first episode in Season 1 to the last episode in Season 1, you can really see how we started off we wanted to be very much a graphic novel and, you know, we all felt we went a little bit too far in that first episode, it was a little too over the top, so we started to dial back and refine the visual effects.

Boy, it's hard to say what I'm most proud of in these areas. Every time I watch an episode, I'm - I just marvel at the sets and the costumes and the lighting, the cinematography, the visual effects. It's amazing that so many different disciplines have come together to make this such a visually stunning show.

Will you have any surprises in store for the San Diego crowd at Comic-Con this year?

You know, that's a good question. We start talking about Comic-Con coming up I think next month is when we start kicking around of what we're doing, if we're doing anything. I hope we do something. I always love being at Comic-Con. With us it's a little - it's always a little trickier be- since we shoot in New Zealand, we have to actually shut down for a week to be able to get people here, to be able to get the actors here. Every year it's a bit of a nail biter to figure out. There's a large dollar amount that's connected with shutting down for a week, so it's always a nail biter to figure out can we do it. I certainly hope so.

Regardless, I'll be there. So, you know, you'll find me floating around the convention floor, if nothing else. But I suspect we'll be there. It's such a great event and we always love coming there.

First, you keep talking about how you are now working for premium cable, which is fantastic. Do you think you're now too spoiled to go back to broadcast TV at any point?

I'll tell you - well, quite possibly. I will never say never, but this often comes up in the writers' room where I say oh boy, I don't know if I could - one of the most daunting things about broadcast networks is I don't know if I could do 22 episodes a year now.

One of the great things about only doing 10 to 13 episodes in a season is that you really get to handcraft each episode. When you do 22, there's usually about five episodes that you just don't have time to fix and you just got to throw your arms up and say, well, that one didn't work, we got to move on to the next one. Which thankfully in premium cable, you just have more time. You know, I think I could definitely put up with the constraints of not being able to curse or show nudity or be overly violent, that I think I could do, but for me it's 22 episodes a year that would be difficult.

Completely understandable. Maybe British broadcast TV would be better.

Yes. Yes, exactly. I'll do six episodes. You know, I'm all for that.

(Spoiler)Big fan of Lucy Lawless since Xena days, of course I love the Raimi/Tapert, but how has her insanity presented any new avenues or challenges in writing?

Well, the tricky part is, you know, you can't have a character be bat shit crazy for the entire season like that. All right. That's a shtick that gets old fast. So it was transitioning her into lucidity where she starts off obviously very, very, very damaged and broken and watching how she puts the pieces back together and tries to reclaim her life is really the juicy part of the storyline. And Lucy of course does it so brilliantly. I've been a big fan of hers, too, since the Xena days and am still thrilled and impossibly shocked that she's one of the stars of our show.

(End Spoiler)

Are there any new characters this season that we're going to love so that you can kill off like Joss Whedon does. I'm assuming you learned that from him.

Joss and I cut from the same cloth. We will kill beloved characters if emotionally if feels right. Yes, there will be new characters introduced this season. And true to fashion in Spartacus, some will live and some will die horribly.

(Spoiler)When the season began, we see that Crixus is on the search of Naevia. Is this something that's going to take, you know, take place throughout the whole series or will it be resolved early on?

There will be a resolution. Not exactly early on, but it will resolve itself. I mean, that's all I can say. (End Spoiler)

You signed a two-year overall deal with STARZ, I was curious if that was only pertaining to Spartacus or if you were, like, putting together some new projects.

No, it doesn’t just pertain to Spartacus. I'm actually at the moment writing a new project for STARZ that I - it's super extra crazy top secret that I can't even give you a title. But there is something new in the works. Now it's in the very, very early stages. It has not been green lit. I've been sent to a pilot script, but there's many, many, many hoops to jump through and stages to pass before it'll get green lit and announced as a show. But all I can say is it's big and very, very exciting.

Hopefully that won't affect anything that's going on with Spartacus in the future.

I don't think it would. No.

Spartacus: Vengeance premieres Friday, January 27th at 10:00 p.m. Et on Starz.