Spartacus: Gods of the Arena is a television miniseries broadcast by American cable TV Starz, as a prequel to Spartacus, which premiered in 2011. The series follows the character Gannicus (Dustin Clare), the first gladiator representing Lentulus Batiatus to become Champion of Capua. Cast members and characters reprised from the original series include John Hannah as Batiatus, Lucy Lawless as Lucretia, Peter Mensah as Oenomaus, Nick E. Tarabay as Ashur, Lesley-Ann Brandt as Naevia, Antonio Te Maioha as Barca, and Manu Bennett as Crixus. The miniseries aired in Canada on Movie Central and The Movie Network, on Sky1 in the United Kingdom and on FX in Latin America.

Cast

Slaves Romans

Episodes

Production

The opportunity to produce Gods of the Arena emerged when the second season of Spartacus was halted while lead actor Andy Whitfield battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Series creator and executive producer Steven S. DeKnight expanded a single flashback episode for the second season into a six-part mini-series. Production for Gods of the Arena began in New Zealand in August 2010.