Prior to attending the excellent panel for Spartacus: War of the Damned, we had the opportunity to sit down with a couple of the cast-members and series creator Steven DeKnight to discuss the upcoming season, which premieres on Starz in January. See what Liam McIntyre, Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Manu Bennett had to say about their characters and what's ahead for Spartacus: War of the Damned.
After last season's finale, it's understandable that we might worry about the fate of the characters. It's probably not a major spoiler to suggest that more deaths are to come. The show is based on historical characters, after all. Still, from what he told us, it sounds like DeKnight has some thoughts on specific characters…
"There are some deaths that we've been thinking about for quite a while that we're very interested in exploring. And as you can imagine, it's Spartacus. There's some very shocking things that happen this season, and things you will not see coming. One in particular comes to mind that I can't even hint at."
It's probably for the best. If the Season 2 finale proved anything, it's that when it comes to casualties, anyone's fair game on this show.
DeKnight also says it's a brutal season. They're exploring that gray area of morality. What are the Romans willing to do to bring the rebels down, and what the rebels are willing to do. He also has some interesting things to say about the new female characters joining the show. Here's the full video of his interview…
Moving on to the on-screen talent, we have Liam McIntyre. (I'm pretty sure I was grinning ear-to-ear throughout the brief time we had to talk to him.) He spoke with us about Spartacus' mentality as far as love goes now, the relevance of the human story that is Spartacus, and the training process for the series, which apparently gets a bit of competitive with some of the cast.
They've been fighting legions of Romans. You'll find everyone in a slightly different place. Spartacus is in commander mode. He doesn't take shit from anybody.
He had more to say on that and some other comments. Check out the full video of our conversation with him below:
Manu Bennett spoke on a number of topics, including his character Crixus' relationship with Lucretia, and his romance with Naevia. It sounds like things pick up in a good place for them. And he had some interesting comments to make about Crixus' attitude toward Spartacus' leadership, which offer some clues as to what may be going in with the rebels in Season 3.
"We've become a much larger army now. We've become a much larger force, and that force could really find its way to freedom. There's just a lot of decision making that goes on this season that's about: What is the cause? What have we done this for? There's a time where Spartacus begins to show his mercy - Mercy's a word that you use in a war scenario. He shows his mercy to the enemy. And the reason why he shows his mercy to the enemy is that because he believes fundamentally in the one thing that everybody has the right for freedom and equality.At that point, when you're in the middle of a war, not every general is going to agree with that strategy of "Well, their ok. We've sort of brought their city to the ground, but now we'll feed them and take care of them. They can have half our rations. Crassus is coming with his army to get us, but we'll still treat them well. Crixus is kind of like, "Wait up Spartacus, are we at war? Or is this some other thing that you're doing now. Is this more of a - some disciple kind of a movement that you're creating. So there's sort of a conflict that comes into the season."
So, it sounds like Spartacus will be showing some mercy, and it's unsurprising that Crixus might have a different mind-set on that matter. It'll definitely be interesting to see how that plays out.
See the rest of Manu's comments, including some thoughts on the documentary being made about Andy Whitfield (Be Here Now) in the video below.
Finally, we have Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who plays Naevia on the show. Among the topics of discussion were her fight with Nick Tarabey's Ashur at the end of last season, her relationship with Crixus, and taking on the role of Naevia last season. She says we'll see a more evolved version of Naevia this season. And it sounds like she's impressed with what she has seen of War of the Damned.
"The scale of it. I just saw a finished clip once visual effects had come in and done their thing. These massive shots. I mean, you're talking about more with thousands upon thousands of people. And what they've managed to achieve to get that look, I think people are going to really love it."
Spartacus: War of the Damned premieres January 2013. You can read all about the Spartacus: War of the Damned panel at Comic Con here.
