Tonight, the stars of Spartacus: Vengeance will celebrate the series at a red carpet premiere held at the Cinerama Dome, 6360 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.
Spartacus: Vengeance stars Liam McIntyre in the title role of Spartacus, Lucy Lawless as Lucretia, Peter Mensah as Oenomaus (once known as Doctore), Manu Bennett as Crixus, Dustin Clare as Gannicus, Nick E. Tarabay as Ashur, and Katrina Law as Mira.
This season, on the heels of the bloody escape from the House of Batiatus that concluded Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the gladiator rebellion continues and begins to strike fear into the heart of the Roman Republic in Spartacus: Vengeance. Gaius Claudius Glaber and his Roman troops are sent to Capua to crush the growing band of freed slaves that Spartacus leads before it can inflict further damage. Spartacus is presented the choice of satisfying his personal need for vengeance against the man that condemned his wife to slavery and eventual death, or making the larger sacrifices necessary to keep his budding army from breaking apart. Containing all of the blood-soaked action, exotic sexuality, and villainy and heroism that has come to distinguish the series, the tale of Spartacus resumes in epic fashion.
In an interview this week, Lucy Lawless discussed her role and how things have changed for her character.
“Yes, my character goes from having everything and being on the make on the up and up with her husband to losing everything, her husband, her baby, her lover, her house, her status and in marble,” Lucy said. “So it’s going to be – she’s going to have to claw her way back to any kind of safety. And she’s in a pit of vipers so she better watch out.”
As for Liam, he has the challenge of stepping into a role that was previously played by fan favorite Andy Whitfield.
“I would demand the scrutiny of fans,” Liam said recently of the potential fan reaction. “I hope they come asking difficult questions because frankly I would if I was in the reverse situation. I’m not, you know, trying to pretend that I am Andy or that I’m going to be matching Andy in any particular way. I just hope that I do the character justice.”
While the actors have the challenge of getting comfortable in their characters’ skin, they also have to adapt to playing historical characters whose story lines are sometimes contradictory. But for Peter Mensah, that is part of the fun.
“Well, I think the interesting thing is no there are very absolute histories in this world and so we on top of that are providing entertainment,” Peter said. “We’re playing with the story or a version of the story and I think what makes this really entertaining is that you take such a heroic depiction of a character as we do in Spartacus and you’ve get someone like Liam who takes it on and plays – he does such a remarkable job of showing the conflict that may have been in this man. And Liam makes it very very real.”
“And I think what really works is that because there is license to play with history, we – and, you know, obviously with the grace of the audience, we get to actually go out and provide a version of what might have happened. And in no way are we claiming this is exactly what happened. You know, we’re just telling a story.”
“So hopefully we tell an entertaining one. And I love – this is why I love my craft because it’s sort of a chance to take a look at a situation and give a version of how we feel it may have happened.”
The season premiere of the one-hour, ten episode series will air on Friday, January 27 at 10pm ET/PT on Starz.
