SPOILER ALERT: This story comprises spoilers from the Season 1 finale of “Spartacus: House of Ashur,” now available on Starz.
Steven S. DeKnight has helped create several cinematic universes over time. He wrote on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the spinoff “Angel” within the early aughts, lent his talents to Superman on “Smallville,” ran a “Transformers” writers’ room in 2015, directed “Pacific Rim: Rebellion” in 2018 and served as showrunner for Marvel’s “Daredevil” on Netflix.
Starting in 2010, nonetheless, DeKnight has been expanding a universe of his own with “Spartacus.” Though the series shares a title and general timeline with Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 feature, the Starz and Lionsgate television series takes the historical epic into latest territory, matching the conventions of sword and sandals with sex and slaughter for a visceral dramatization of history.
The series began with “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” in 2010. A prequel series, “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena,” later premiered in 2011, and the timeline continued with “Spartacus: Vengeance” in 2012 and “Spartacus: War of the Damned” in 2013, which saw the title gladiator’s death in the ultimate episode.
Courtesy of Matt Klitscher/Starz
Late last yr, “Spartacus” returned to television after greater than a decade, however the show didn’t reemerge with latest tales of the eponymous Thracian. As a substitute, the brand new series, titled “Spartacus: House of Ashur” focuses on the subtitular character: the Assyrian Ashur (Nick E. Tarabay) who stood enemy to Spartacus in the unique series and met a gristly demise at the tip of “Vengeance.”
Nevertheless, the brand new series opens with Ashur within the underworld, where he’s given the chance to reexperience life in a special timeline, one through which he evaded death, killed Spartacus and now stands Dominus in his own House. Ashur awakes on this alternative timeline, but not all is blissful. Throughout the series, he still must navigate the politics of the Roman Empire, contending with the crass authority of Julius Caesar (Jackson Gallagher) and his wife Cornelia (Jaime Slater), aiming to raise his House’s notoriety in the sector by introducing the ferocious gladiatrix, Achillia (Tenika Davis), and all of the while, trying to take care of peace inside and without in his latest probability at rewriting history.
And rewrite history he does! The “House of Ashur” season finale, which premiered on Starz on Feb. 6, concludes with Ashur murdering Caesar, thus subverting the Ides of March and revising one of the crucial infamous deaths in human history. After Achillia gains victory in the sector and brings triumph to the House of Ashur, Caesar dismisses the agreement that will see Ashur gain favor among the many Roman Empire. The 2 then engage in an intense and intimate battle of fists and blades, culminating in Ashur delivering a fatal blow to the mighty Caesar. Within the penultimate shot, Ashur stands over the Emperor’s dead body in a pool of blood and utters the episode’s now-ironic title: “Hail Caesar.”
Ahead of the finale, Variety caught up with DeKnight to debate his return to “Spartacus,” the uncoupling of history in “House of Ashur” — and the longer term of all of the franchises he’s touched over time.
And the opposite important thing that I desired to do was work with Nick Tarabay again. I loved working with Nick; I worked with him on a few projects. He’s an entire pro, and I assumed he really deserved to be front and center, because he’s such a unbelievable actor.
Let’s start by stating the plain: Ashur was decapitated in “Spartacus: Vengeance.” What made you desire to resurrect the character and make a season in another timeline, specializing in him because the hero?
Two important things: at the start, I just thought it was an incredibly juicy character and that there was more to explore. Once we see Asher in “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena,” we see a man who’s desperate to be a part of the Brotherhood. He wants those relationships, but through a series of circumstances, he’s ridiculed, humiliated and injured — and that makes him really bitter. So I at all times thought it will be interesting to explore whether he can rediscover his humanity. Can he find his heart again?
Courtesy of Matt Klitscher/Starz
How did you and the writers settle on the story?
About three years ago, I pitched this crazy idea to Lionsgate and Starz. They said that they wanted more “Spartacus,” so I went through the standard permutations: What if we focused on Caesar? What if we focused on the triumvirate? What if we did Antony and Cleopatra? But none of them felt like “Spartacus” within the true sense of the series. I actually love the confined upstairs-downstairs storytelling with the political intrigue. In the unique show, Ashur says, “That is the rise of the home of Ashur.” The writers and I mused about, what if we actually did that show, and eventually we said, “Why the hell not? Why not do a ‘What If…’ where we are able to uncouple from history so the audience doesn’t know what’s coming and explore this great character?”
Did you usually know that you just desired to reintroduce Caesar into the universe of
“Spartacus”?
Well, we had Caesar in the unique show, played by Todd Lasance, and he was unfortunately not available because he’s starring in his own show and we’re very joyful for him. But after I first talked to Nick, I called him up after Lionsgate and Starz said yes to the show. He was in France on the time, and I pitched him the story and he was immediately on board, and a part of that pitch was I told him, “At the tip of Season 1, you kill Caesar and the last line is ‘Hail Caesar.’” He loved it and now, here we’re.
Courtesy of Matt Klitsche/Starz
So that you knew from the start that the season would end with the battle between Ashur and Caesar, and the further rewriting of history?
Yeah. Plenty of people watching the show keep asking, “When are we going to see Caesar, Crassus and Pompey take over the Republic?” Obviously, I couldn’t tell them, but we had a special plan. The interesting thing in regards to the show is that now that Ashur is alive again, he knocks over the historical dominoes, and starts changing history. The primary change is that he introduces the feminine gladiator about 70 years sooner than it actually happened. And the subsequent big one is that he murders Julius Caesar, which obviously completely upsets history and the triumvirate. And what happens from there is actually interesting to me. So, yes, I had this concept from the very starting. I assumed it will be a brilliant cool, different approach to history, and really show the audience that we are actually truly uncoupled from history.
Despite the ending, though, Caesar’s wife, Cornelia, really has more of a presence throughout the season. Why did you select to make her the more outstanding and consequential character within the story?
Well, I talked to my historical consultants they usually explained that Julius Caesar is essentially the most famous Roman in history, but at this time limit, his wife, Cornelia, was actually more powerful, richer and higher known, and she or he was helping Caesar stand up through the ranks because she truly loved him. It was a love relationship. I believe there’s a story when Caesar was banished — or on the run and needed to live in a cave — and she or he joined him because she loved him a lot. So really this got here from the historical consultants saying that she was actually the one that everybody desired to suck as much as at this point in history. She was the daughter of Cinna, who was the previous dictator of the Roman Republic, and she or he had a variety of notoriety and power and public presence. I assumed it will be very interesting to subvert those expectations of Caesar being front and center, and as a substitute have or not it’s his wife who’s working on his behalf.
Courtesy of Matt Klitsche/Starz
One other interesting character that you just introduce on this season is Achillia. How did you and your fellow writers develop her and choose to introduce the concept of gladiatrixes to “Spartacus”?
On the unique show, Rob Tapper and I at all times desired to introduce the feminine gladiator, because we just thought it was really cool, but we were sticking much closer to history and we ultimately decided that it was a bit too far because it was like 70 or 80 years out of the time period. But we actually desired to do it, so this time around, with the uncoupling of history, we went for it. It introduced a cool, different visual element for the show, and from there, we began constructing a personality with a mysterious past that’s fighting her own demons. We found a way for her to be thrown into this brutal world where nobody, including Ashur, expects her to survive. She’s a gimmick. Ashur just uses her to get his foot within the door, but then, against all odds, she survives, barely. After which he’s really got a hot property — and a hot property like that, after all, in classic entertainment fashion, is mimicked. All the opposite promoters need to copy it, in order that’s where the Scythian got here in. She’s the subsequent one because it’s catching on. People within the show need to see more gladiatrixes. In order that story will proceed, and we’ll see more female gladiators.
Does that mean that you have got more “Spartacus” within the pipeline? Will there be a Season 2 of “House of Ashur”?
Yeah, we’ve actually already written Season 2. All of it will depend on the audience and the viewership, but we’re very joyful with the response up to now, and we’re able to go.
Across the entire seasons of “Spartacus” do you ever get notes from the studio regarding the quantity of sex and violence? Do they ever ask you to tone it down, or, contrarily, do they ever insist that you just amp it up, on condition that it’s a part of what makes the show unique?
Thankfully no. Starz and Lionsgate were each very supportive from early on, they usually were clear that they wanted more of the identical show. They didn’t want us to tone it down for the times. Their opinion from the beginning was, “Look, we all know this show isn’t for everyone —we’re not attempting to make it for everyone. We have the desire to make one other ‘Spartacus.’” In order that was unbelievable to listen to these days, that they didn’t put restrictions on us. They were very joyful with what we were delivering they usually felt it was very much within the spirit of the unique show.
Where does the unique dialogue of “Spartacus” come from? How did you create this unique Shakespearean dialect riddled with profanity?
Plenty of people think that the syntax is Latin, but it surely actually has nothing to do with Latin. It was a pure creative invention from the start of the unique series, simply because I desired to convey to the audience the sense of a special time. I even have a background in playwriting; that’s what I studied in college and I used to be deeply steeped in Shakespeare, but I didn’t need to go full Shakespeare because with a contemporary audience, it’d be incredibly obscure. The show’s already difficult because it is, so I just mashed two of my favorite things together: Shakespeare and “Conan the Barbarian.” I just desired to put those together after which run it through the lens of growing up in South Jersey, which suggests I curse so much. I wanted that sort of juxtaposition of the highfalutin language with a variety of cursing, which just felt right for the world.
Now that you just’ve created this alternative timeline, are there other “Spartacus” characters that you just’d be enthusiastic about revisiting or resurrecting?
Definitely. I at all times desired to do a Gannicus spin off from the unique series, played by the unbelievable Dustin Clare. At the tip of “Gods of the Arena,” he gains his freedom from the sector and goes off wandering. He disappears within the time period of the show for five, six or seven years, after which reappears in “Spartacus: Vengeance.” And I at all times thought it will be great to do like a Spaghetti Western sort of version, you already know, a “Have Sword, Will Travel,” with Gannicus wandering the lands, searching for redemption for his own past deeds as he gets involved with helping people. Like, a Man with No Name Spaghetti Western, but with a sword- and-sandal bent.
Lastly, beyond “Spartacus,” you’ve been involved in so many franchises over time from Marvel, DC, “Transformers” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” A few of these series, notably “Buffy” and “Daredevil” are getting latest life straight away in the shape of reboots. Would you be enthusiastic about returning to any of those universes as a author, director or producer, as you’ve served prior to now?
I’m at all times open, but I also like to see what the subsequent generation of creatives are going to bring to the table. It’s like, I’ve had my go and it was an important time. I loved working on “Buffy” and “Daredevil,” but I’m really excited in regards to the “Buffy’ reboot. I cannot wait to see what they do. I used to be especially excited after I heard Sarah Michelle Gellar was going to be a part of it, which, to me, makes it much more exciting. So, would I answer the decision if I used to be available? In fact. I really like those worlds, but I believe they’ll do exactly wonderful without me, and I’m just excited to see what these creatives do with the properties.
Any advice for the oldsters rebooting “Daredevil” on Disney+ straight away?
I believe they got a handle on it. Quite frankly, my advice is at all times the identical for all creatives: swing for the fences. Just absolutely go for it and other people will show up. Particularly with
“Daredevil,” they’rebenefiting from having Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, and, after all, the incredible Deborah Ann Woll. You absolutely cannot go mistaken with that talent. They are only amazing. I’d watch those guys read the phone book, so I’m sure that they’re going to do great.
This interview has been edited and condensed.