SPOILER ALERT: This story contains 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 the years. He wrote on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the spinoff “Angel” in the early aughts, lent his talents to Superman on “Smallville,” ran a “Transformers” writers’ room in 2015, directed “Pacific Rim: Uprising” in 2018 and served as showrunner for Marvel’s “Daredevil” on Netflix.
Beginning in 2010, however, 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 new 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 final episode.
Courtesy of Matt Klitscher/Starz
Late last year, “Spartacus” returned to television after more than a decade, but the show did not reemerge with new tales of the eponymous Thracian. Instead, the 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 original series and met a gristly demise at the end of “Vengeance.”
Nevertheless, the new series opens with Ashur in the underworld, where he is given the opportunity to reexperience life in a different timeline, one in which he evaded death, killed Spartacus and now stands Dominus in his own House. Ashur awakes in 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 elevate his House’s notoriety in the arena by introducing the ferocious gladiatrix, Achillia (Tenika Davis), and all the while, trying to maintain peace within and without in his new chance 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 most infamous deaths in human history. After Achillia gains victory in the arena and brings triumph to the House of Ashur, Caesar dismisses the agreement that would see Ashur gain favor among the Roman Empire. The two then engage in an intense and intimate battle of fists and blades, culminating in Ashur delivering a fatal blow to the mighty Caesar. In 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 discuss his return to “Spartacus,” the uncoupling of history in “House of Ashur” — and the future of all the franchises he’s touched over the years.
And the other main thing that I wanted to do was work with Nick Tarabay again. I loved working with Nick; I worked with him on a couple of projects. He’s a complete pro, and I thought he really deserved to be front and center, because he’s such a fantastic actor.
Let’s start by stating the obvious: Ashur was decapitated in “Spartacus: Vengeance.” What made you want to resurrect the character and make a season in an alternative timeline, focusing on him as the hero?
Two main things: first and foremost, I just thought it was an incredibly juicy character and that there was more to explore. When we see Asher in “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena,” we see a guy who’s eager to be 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 always thought it would 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 decide 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 usual 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” in the true sense of the series. I really love the confined upstairs-downstairs storytelling with the political intrigue. In the original show, Ashur says, “This is the rise of the house 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 can uncouple from history so the audience doesn’t know what’s coming and explore this great character?”
Did you always know that you wanted to reintroduce Caesar into the universe of
“Spartacus”?
Well, we had Caesar in the original show, played by Todd Lasance, and he was unfortunately not available because he’s starring in his own show and we’re very happy for him. But when I first talked to Nick, I called him up after Lionsgate and Starz said yes to the show. He was in France at the time, and I pitched him the story and he was immediately on board, and part of that pitch was I told him, “At the end of Season 1, you kill Caesar and the last line is ‘Hail Caesar.’” He loved it and now, here we are.
Courtesy of Matt Klitsche/Starz
So you knew from the beginning that the season would end with the battle between Ashur and Caesar, and the further rewriting of history?
Yeah. A lot 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 different plan. The interesting thing about the show is that now that Ashur is alive again, he knocks over the historical dominoes, and starts changing history. The first change is that he introduces the female gladiator about 70 years earlier than it actually happened. And the next big one is that he murders Julius Caesar, which obviously completely upsets history and the triumvirate. And what happens from there is really interesting to me. So, yes, I had this idea from the very beginning. I thought it would be a super cool, different approach to history, and really show the audience that we are now truly uncoupled from history.
Despite the ending, though, Caesar’s wife, Cornelia, really has more of a presence throughout the season. Why did you decide to make her the more prominent and consequential character in the story?
Well, I talked to my historical consultants and they explained that Julius Caesar is the most famous Roman in history, but at this point in time, his wife, Cornelia, was actually more powerful, richer and better known, and she was helping Caesar rise up through the ranks because she truly loved him. It was a love relationship. I think there’s a story when Caesar was banished — or on the run and had to live in a cave — and she joined him because she loved him so much. So really this came from the historical consultants saying that she was actually the one that everyone wanted to suck up to at this point in history. She was the daughter of Cinna, who was the previous dictator of the Roman Republic, and she had a lot of notoriety and power and public presence. I thought it would be very interesting to subvert those expectations of Caesar being front and center, and instead have it be his wife who’s working on his behalf.
Courtesy of Matt Klitsche/Starz
Another interesting character that you introduce in this season is Achillia. How did you and your fellow writers develop her and decide to introduce the concept of gladiatrixes to “Spartacus”?
On the original show, Rob Tapper and I always wanted to introduce the female 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 since it was like 70 or 80 years out of the time period. But we really wanted 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 started building a character with a mysterious past that’s fighting her own demons. We found a way for her to be thrown into this brutal world where no one, including Ashur, expects her to survive. She’s a gimmick. Ashur just uses her to get his foot in the door, but then, against all odds, she survives, barely. And then he’s really got a hot property — and a hot property like that, of course, in classic entertainment fashion, is mimicked. All the other promoters want to copy it, so that’s where the Scythian came in. She’s the next one as it’s catching on. People in the show want to see more gladiatrixes. So that story will continue, and we’ll see more female gladiators.
Does that mean that you have more “Spartacus” in the pipeline? Will there be a Season 2 of “House of Ashur”?
Yeah, we’ve actually already written Season 2. It all depends on the audience and the viewership, but we’re very happy with the response so far, and we’re ready to go.
Across all of the seasons of “Spartacus” do you ever get notes from the studio regarding the amount of sex and violence? Do they ever ask you to tone it down, or, contrarily, do they ever insist that you amp it up, given that it’s part of what makes the show unique?
Thankfully no. Starz and Lionsgate were both very supportive from early on, and they were clear that they wanted more of the same show. They didn’t want us to tone it down for the times. Their opinion from the start was, “Look, we know this show isn’t for everybody —we’re not trying to make it for everybody. We want to make another ‘Spartacus.’” So that was fantastic to hear in this day and age, that they didn’t put restrictions on us. They were very happy with what we were delivering and they felt it was very much in the spirit of the original show.
Where does the unique dialogue of “Spartacus” come from? How did you create this unique Shakespearean dialect riddled with profanity?
A lot of people think that the syntax is Latin, but it actually has nothing to do with Latin. It was a pure creative invention from the beginning of the original series, just because I wanted to convey to the audience the sense of a different time. I have a background in playwriting; that’s what I studied in college and I was deeply steeped in Shakespeare, but I didn’t want to go full Shakespeare because with a modern audience, it’d be incredibly difficult to understand. The show’s already challenging as it is, so I just mashed two of my favorite things together: Shakespeare and “Conan the Barbarian.” I just wanted to put those together and then run it through the lens of growing up in South Jersey, which means I curse a lot. I wanted that kind of juxtaposition of the highfalutin language with a lot of cursing, which just felt right for the world.
Now that you’ve created this alternative timeline, are there other “Spartacus” characters that you’d be interested in revisiting or resurrecting?
Definitely. I always wanted to do a Gannicus spin off from the original series, played by the fantastic Dustin Clare. At the end of “Gods of the Arena,” he gains his freedom from the arena and goes off wandering. He disappears in the time period of the show for five, six or seven years, and then reappears in “Spartacus: Vengeance.” And I always thought it would be great to do like a Spaghetti Western kind of version, you know, a “Have Sword, Will Travel,” with Gannicus wandering the lands, looking 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 the years from Marvel, DC, “Transformers” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Some of these series, notably “Buffy” and “Daredevil” are getting new life right now in the form of reboots. Would you be interested in returning to any of those universes as a writer, director or producer, as you’ve served in the past?
I’m always open, but I also love to see what the next generation of creatives are going to bring to the table. It’s like, I’ve had my go and it was a great time. I loved working on “Buffy” and “Daredevil,” but I’m really excited about the “Buffy’ reboot. I cannot wait to see what they do. I was especially excited when I heard Sarah Michelle Gellar was going to be part of it, which, to me, makes it even more exciting. So, would I answer the call if I was available? Of course. I love those worlds, but I think they’ll do just fine without me, and I’m just excited to see what these creatives do with the properties.
Any advice for the folks rebooting “Daredevil” on Disney+ right now?
I think they got a handle on it. Quite frankly, my advice is always the same for all creatives: swing for the fences. Just absolutely go for it and people will show up. Particularly with
“Daredevil,” they’rebenefiting from having Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, and, of course, the incredible Deborah Ann Woll. You absolutely cannot go wrong with that talent. They are just 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.
