In addition to live-blogging the Spartacus: Vengeance panel at Comic-Con tonight, I also had the privilege of sitting down with the cast and series creator Steven DeKnight earlier today to talk about the upcoming season, which is set to premiere January 2012. We learned some interesting tidbits about what’s to come for the characters, some of which are a bit spoilery, so read on at your own risk.
First and foremost, from what was said by the cast, it seems like Liam McIntyre’s fitting in well among the cast, though he’s got some big shoes to fill. In the wake of Andy Whitfield’s unfortunate departure from the series due to illness, McIntyre has stepped up to fill his shoes. He considers this to be a great honor. “It’s been a big challenge and a big learning curve in lots of ways, but also the best experience you could ever dream of having, McIntyre said. He also admitted to being a fan of the show prior to being cast in it.
Steven DeKnight shared a few clues about Season 2, including that the show will pick up not long after where Blood and Sand left off. We’ll be seeing the tougher side to some of the women, as there will be more women fighting. He mentioned the new female character Saxa (played by Ellen Hollman), who will be appearing sometime toward the middle of the season. And for you Lucy Lawless fans out there, you won’t have to wait long to see Lucretia. DeKnight says Lucretia will return in the first episode and we’ll be getting an inkling of what’s going on with her then.
Dustin Clare’s character Gannicus was introduced to the series in the prequel season Gods of the Arena. When we last saw Gannicus, he was earning his freedom. Clare joked that Gannicus has been off learning to become a hairdresser in his free time. His serious answer was that Gannicus has been changing and growing during the time between GotA and Blood and Sand/Vengeance. “He’s a different man than we saw in the prequel,” he said. “A man that has a lot of skeletons that he has to deal with.” I’m thinking one big one may be the fact that he fell in love and had a brief affair with his best friend Oenomaus’ wife Melitta. There's definitely some unfinished business there.
Lucy Lawless says Lucretia has no money and no power. She’s in a bad state and you’ll see that when you glimpse her in the trailer Starz showed us at the panel. As for the baby, (spoiler alert!), Lawless says, “That’s a no go. He poked me in the tummy.” So, it sounds like she’ll have lost everything that mattered to her. What she does have left is her friendship with Ilythia, and Lawless said they get much more entangled and intense in Season 2.
Some interesting trivia about Lucy Lawless - She isn’t a fan of doing action sequences. She told us that Bruce Campbell taught her the power of forward propulsion through his positive attitude toward grueling tasks. Apparently, whenever he was told it was time to shoot a fight scene, he’d say “Excellent!” Lawless says that’s a good technique. “If you can’t change it, you better be happy about it, right? It’s time to do your taxes… Excellent!”
Manu Bennett talked about the theme of the season, which also happens to be in the title. Vengeance is all over the new season, not only carried over from previous grudges but also with new drama introduced into the show. “We now have sword in hand and are free men, but we’re in the middle of the enemy’s country, so if they confront us, we take our vengeance out on them.” Seems fair enough. Leadership may be an issue for Bennett’s character Crixus, who might be butting heads with Spartacus and Gannicus as they try to make the decisions they feel are best for their own survival.
Manu spoke very highly of both Andy and Liam. He said that Andy has an unmatchable quality and there’s no replacing him. As for Liam, he says when he first looked the actor in the eyes, he saw conviction and honesty.
Katrina Law plays Spartacus’ potential love interest Mira. In Season 1, she was tasked to sleep with Spartacus and the two ended up forming a friendship and maybe more. When Season 2 picks up, Mira will be trying to adjust to being a free woman and attempting to figure out what she really wants for herself. Since Steven DeKnight mentioned some women would be fighting, I asked if Mira would be throwing down with anyone. To this, Law responded, “Mira is very feisty. I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets her hands dirty.”
Another interesting thing Law brought up was the “rebel camp.” From the way she spoke of it, it sounds like this could be some kind of central area where Spartacus and some of the other freed (escaped) slaves are camped out or will be at some point.
Starz posted an abridged version of the trailer shown at the panel. You can check it out here and tune in to Starz next Friday night at midnight to see the excellent, full version.
