NZ Herald - 26 March 2009 - Spartacus returns

Just as the local production on the first season of Legend of the Seeker winds down, another of producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi's latest New Zealand-based productions is about to start shooting. And this one will involve Lucy Lawless - Tapert's missus - in a recurring role.

The show is called Spartacus though it has less to do with the Stanley Kubrick/Kirk Douglas classic take on the story of the Roman rebel slave than with being a hard-edged small screen answer to hit Spartan war flick 300.

Tapert says the show is for US cable network Starz Entertainment and will be shot largely using greenscreen in an Auckland studio, using many local actors - at least ones willing to get their gear off.

"It's a reinvention of that story and myth. So the first 13 episodes are like the rise of the gladiator rock star. It's more in the vein of Deadwood meets 300.

"We are not being slavish to style and history or any of that. This is really a graphic novel brought to life."

So no, we won't see someone with a curious resemblance to Xena shouting: "No, I am Spartacus!" Pity.