The original run of Spartacus may have only lasted for a little over three years, but it left a memorable legacy on Starz even as the network moved on to shows like Outlander. Now, the franchise is set to return to the airwaves with Spartacus: House of Ashur, and an Outlander alum is along for what I can only assume will be a bloody ride. Everybody, get ready to see Graham McTavish among the new cast members joining Nick Tarabay for the upcoming spinoff! I hope you're as pumped as I am.
Graham McTavish, who played Dougal on Outlander before joining other fantasy series including The Witcher and House of the Dragon, now joins the House of Ashur cast to play Korris, a former gladiator who has become Ashur's Doctore and taken on the job of training gladiators. Nick Tarabay will of course reprise his role as Ashur from the original Spartacus and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.
Also starring alongside McTavish and Tarabay are Jupiter's Legacy's Tenika Davis as Achillia, the Spartacus universe's first female gladiator; Home and Away's Jamaica Vaughan as a young and elevated house slave named Hilara; Pan's Labyrinth's Ivana Baquero as house slave Messia; Choose Love's Jordi Webber as Tarchon, a headstrong gladiator; The Nevers' Claudia Black as Cossutia, a politician who is no friend of Ashur's; The Pines Still Whisper's India Shaw-Smith as Viridia, the daughter of Cossutia; and Joker's Leigh Gill as Satyrus, leader of rival gladiators.
All in all, the castings count as major updates, considering that the only confirmed cast member previously was Nick Tarabay as Ashur! Of course, if you were a fan of the original Spartacus when it aired from 2010 - 2013 and haven't kept up with the news as House of Ashur developed, then you might be confused how Ashur will be around at all, let alone able to lead his own series, as the character quite definitively died.
Spartacus: House of Ashur isn't resurrecting the title character, but rather exploring an alternate version of history with Ashur alive and rewarded with the gladiator school that had been owned by Batiatus after his role in killing Spartacus and ending the slave rebellion. Spartacus creator, executive producer, and writer Steven S. DeKnight is on board House of Ashur as showrunner and EP. The project received a series order of ten episodes back in 2023, and has now begun production in New Zealand.
At the time of writing, Starz hasn't announced when to expect Spartacus: House of Ashur to premiere, although it seems like a safe bet that it won't be before the end of the 2024 TV schedule. The network already has a high-profile series set to return in late 2024 anyway, with the very long-awaited second half of Outlander Season 7 arriving in November. Despite his character's death, Graham McTavish will appear in the time travel drama in the fall, and he hasn't been a stranger to Starz over the years thanks to his Men in Kilts travel series with Sam Heughan. Even if we never find out what happened to his House of the Dragon character, he'll be back on Starz!
If you're now in the mood to revisit the original run of Spartacus, you can find the full series (including the Gods of the Arena miniseries) streaming with a Hulu subscription.
