Spartacus is replenishing its ranks in the wake of Season 2′s climactic bloodbath.
Cabin in the Woods‘ Anna Hutchison, Aussie actress Jenna Lind and New Zealand newcomer Gwendoline Taylor are joining the Starz drama’s Season 3 ensemble as series regulars.
Hutchison will play Laeta, the privileged wife of a Roman dignitary who becomes entangled in the struggle against Spartacus. Her life and those of the ones she loves are forever changed by the conflict.
Lind will portray Kore, a loyal slave to Marcus Crassus (Simon Merrells), the Roman tasked with bringing an end to Spartacus and his rebellion. Her deep feelings for her master will be sorely tested by spiraling events.
Lastly, Taylor will play Sibyl, a beautiful young slave rescued from Roman cruelty. Now free, she will embark on a journey that will touch the lives of key leaders in the rebellion.
Since the episode doesn’t air until Sunday in Canada and Monday in the UK, no finale spoilers will appear on this blog until 11pm UK time. However, please feel free to submit your posts before then. They will be queued up.
Collection of articles about the finale. WARNING: THEY ALL CONTAIN HEAVY SPOILERS
EW: ‘Spartacus’ finale shockers: Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight on why [spoilers] died
AVClub: INTERVIEW: Spartacus creator Steven DeKnight
Boob Tube Dude: “Spartacus” Finale: Creator Steven DeKnight dishes on tonight’s shocking episode
HuffPo: ‘Spartacus: Vengeance’ Finale Review
TVGuide: Spartacus Vengeance Finale: Things That Made Us Go “Ew!” and the Shocking Death!
TVLine: Spartacus: Vengeance Post Mortem: The Story Behind The Finale’s Unprecedented [Spoiler]
On the penultimate episode of Starz’s Spartacus: Vengeance, our hero and his band of rogue slaves were forced to retreat to the cold, unwelcome Vesuvius after their defenses literally went up in flames.
TV Equals had a chance to talk to the intensely charming Ellen about her new character, the grueling preparation she had to go through, the “liberties” she took on set and how she wants to do some “dirty jobs”.
Check out what she had to say below and don’t miss Ellen in her first appearance as Saxa in the upcoming Spartacus Vengeance episode “Sacramentum” airing tomorrow Friday March 8 2012 at 10 pm.
It’s about time the women got to be part of the action onSpartacus: Vengeance, and we’re not just talking about between the sheets.
This season’s female ex-slaves have become an integral part of the resistance movement. Mira in particular helped orchestrate the demolition of Capua’s gladiator arena and has also proven to be fierce in the field. In one skirmish, she even took a flying leap and landed on a Roman guard, stabbing him repeatedly.
“I think that jump is being called the Flying Squirrel Monkey,”Katrina Law, who plays former slave girl Mira, tells TVGuide.com. “I did all of my own stunts. There were no springboards or wires. It only took two takes to do it, so I’m pretty proud of myself.”
Mira’s shift from servile to scrappy was partly organic to the story line and partly a result of Law’s conversations with the writers at the end of Season 1. “I really emphasized that I would love to get in on the action,” Law explains. “It was always the men that were the violence and always women doing the whole sexuality thing. So when I started seeing the new scripts and I realized that Mira was getting more and more active, I was like, ‘Oh, yes. I get to pick up something and be dangerous and fight and be active.’ It’s a whole hell of a lot more fun than holding a vase in the background.”
Check out what else Law has to say about Mira’s evolution, the sex scenes with Liam McIntyre and an intimate moment with a new warrior lady:
Synopsis behind the cut.
Like his character Gannicus in “Spartacus: Vengeance,” Dustin Clare is a man of few words, at least if you’re trying to get him to reveal much about his return to the series.
“No, you’re going to have to tune in Friday,” the star of last year’s prequel,”Spartacus: Gods of the Arena,” told me during a conference call with journalists last week. He also rebuffed me with:
The Aussie actor was perfectly pleasant and laughing, just tight-lipped when asked to get specific. We did get him to bite at a few questions, however, concerning what the gladiator has been doing since the end of “Gods of the Arena,” when Gannicus became champion of Capua and earned his freedom
[rest of interview continued at source]
EXCLUSIVE: A prolonged search has ended, and 20th Century Fox has set Jai Courtney to play the son of John McClane (Bruce Willis) in A Good Day To Die Hard, the fifth installment of the Die Hard franchise. John Moore will direct a film that has been dated for February 14, 2013 release. Alex Young is producing.
This is a big surprise, as the studio, Moore and Willis met a ton of up and coming young actors, only to expand the search several times. Courtney hadn’t been on any of those short lists that I’d heard of, but I believe it came down to Courtney and Liam Hemsworth, the Hunger Games star. Courtney is perhaps best known for playing Varro in the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. He was the close confidante of Spartacus until they were forced into a battle to the death. Courtney most recently has been starring opposite Tom Cruise in Paramount’s One Shot, the Christopher McQuarrie-directed adaptation of the Lee Child bestseller. He is also attached to star opposite Aaron Eckhart in I, Frankenstein. He is repped by UTA and The Collective.
A Good Day to Die Hard puts McClane on an international stage, truly a NYC fish out of water in Moscow, and introduces his estranged son Jack (Jai Courtney). An apple that has not fallen far from the tree, Jack may even be more of a hardass than his father. Despite their differences, they must work together to keep each other alive and keep the world safe for democracy. This positions Courtney to continue in future installments of the franchise with Willis, who last reprised his franchise character in 2007. DEVELOPING…
(Source: deadline.com, via wilderwind)
Spartacus‘ Peter Mensah is joining True Blood‘s upcoming fifth season in a recurring capacity.
According to our sister site Deadline.com, Mensah will play Kibwe, a ruling member of the Vampire Authority.
[source and rest of article]
Spoilers for upcoming episodes from Feb. 7’s Ask Ausiello (also, it’s totally just coincidence that the question asker has the same name as me):
It’s no surprise that Spartacus: Vengeance has done as well as it has. The STARZ show has drawn in an immense (and diverse) crowd. Packed with gore, nudity, sex, and a surprising dose of humanity, the show has done well for itself and has already been renewed for a third season. Writer Steven DeKnight continues to impress with his scripts, as testament to the first episode of season 2. The episode boasted plenty of gore (opening with an impressive sword fight) and holding true to it’s “M for Mature” rating. DeKnight did his research, describing in a live web interview recently that he prides the show on being as realistic as possible for the setting. Viewers are taken on a whirlwind ride during every episode, but with all that violence and sex, one has to wonder how the cast feels filming some of these scenes. Liam McIntyre (Spartacus), Lucy Lawless (Lucretia), and Viva Bianca (Illithyia) shared their personal experiences on set – and their answers may surprise you.
Rest of the article at the source
Vengeance, the follow-up to Blood and Sand and prequel God of the Arena, delivered nearly 1.4 million viewers during its premiere broadcast on Friday night. Adding 677,000 from the ensuing encore at 11:00 p.m., the series brought in 2.1 million viewers for the night.
Rest of the article at the source
Spartacus: Vengeance premieres in Canada tonight, Sunday January 29, at 10pm on TMN.
It premieres tomorrow, Monday January 30, at 10pm on Sky1.
(thanks to justanothertaperjeangirl for the UK info!)
