Though Spartacus is one of the most popular TV series in Starz history, the show will be coming to an end after the upcoming third season.
At the Television Critics Association press tour, Starz president and CEO Chris Albrecht explained that both the network and the show’s producers believed that three seasons was enough.
He said, “I joined Starz when we were editing the first season of the show, and when I saw the end of the first season, I thought, ‘Uh oh,’ Spartacus just exited the franchise — the ludus and the Upstairs/Downstairs aspect of the show — and now they are in the movie.”
Albrecht continued, “I think the producers and those of us at Starz were always well aware that this was going to be a very different show once the rebels were in the hills and the Romans were in the town. We had to tell two distinct stories, and that is never the ultimate way to do a TV series.”
“Ultimately, what all of us felt, is that rather than try and string out a story and have one more battle or one more argument between the rebels or one more villain show up, we would kind of follow the trajectory of the history and bring the Spartacus story to fruition.”
He concluded that it’s “better probably to leave people wanting more than to risk repeating ourselves and diminish the overall impact of the franchise. But it was a very difficult decision and one we certainly didn’t want to be in the position of making.”
The third and final season of Spartacus will premiere in January. It will be subtitled “War of the Damned.”
What do you think? Do you agree with the reasoning to end the Spartacus TV series? Would you have preferred to see a fourth season?
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4 Comments on "Spartacus: Starz Prez on Ending the TV Series"
I knew from the beginning that Spartacus was not going to last. I am glad to see them not go to long with the series. Although I would of kept Spartacus in the Lutus for at least 2 seasons before breaking out. Then we would of had at least 4 seasons. I would of loved them to have made the prequel series at least 12 episodes or at least 3 seasons long. John Hannah was so good as Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Batiatus. They had real potential for that prequel series.
I wonder how much of this is because the replacement Spartacus, while decent, did not fill the sandals of the departed REAL Spartacus.
I am glad they did do the prequel and the followup season though. Even with those challenges they were very respectable in their own rights.
If I was Starz, I have all the setup of that time period, I would be researching the Hell out of someone else in that era that I could right about…
You have the captive audience.