Latest news with #Ashur
Geek Culture
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
'Spartacus: House of Ashur' Is A "What If" Sequel Where The Romans Won, Coming This Winter
What if Ashur (Nick Emad Tarabay), hadn't died on Mount Vesuvius at the end of 2012's Spartacus: Vengeance and had been gifted the gladiator school once owned by Batiatus in return for aiding the Romans in killing Spartacus and putting an end to the slave rebellion? We end up with a history-bending, erotic, thrilling, 10-episode sequel series, Spartacus: House of Ashur , that builds on everything that made the original series a colossal hit. Based on the teaser trailer above, the sequel series will introduce Tenika Davis ( Wrong Turn ) as a formidable new gladiatrix (female gladiator), Achillia, whom Ashur introduces as 'a sight never before witnessed in the arena'. The only other cast member returning from the original series seems to be Lucy Lawless, who will reprise her role as Lucretia, who will also be resurrected in this upcoming alternate reality take on the franchise, where the Romans won. Spartacus: The House of Ashur arrives this winter, exclusively on Starz. Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home's centre-piece. Gladiator Spartacus starz
UPI
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
'Spartacus: House of Ashur' to premiere on Starz this winter
Nick E. Tarabay's "Spartacus: House of Ashur" is set to premiere this winter on Starz. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo July 27 (UPI) -- Starz has narrowed the premiere window for Spartacus: House of Ashur to "this winter" and released a new teaser for the eagerly awaited period drama. Nick E. Tarabay will reprise his role of Ashur from 2010's Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Spartacus franchise creator Steven S. DeKnight is the showrunner for the latest chapter. "What if he lived, and the Romans rewarded his treachery with the gladiator school where he once bled? Welcome to the House of Ashur. No longer a slave, Ashur has clawed his way to power, owning the same ludus that once owned him," a synopsis for the show said. "But ruling a band of merciless gladiators is child's play compared to surviving the savage world of Roman politics -- a cutthroat game in which betrayal isn't a sin, it's currency." The cast will also include Tenika Davis, Graham McTavish, Jamaica Vaughan, Jordi Webber and Jaime Slater.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Spartacus: House of Ashur' Comic-Con trailer throws first female gladiator to the wolves
See Tenika Davis in action as Achillia, a gladiatrix. Welcome back to the arena. There have been some changes while you were gone. Spartacus: House of Ashur dropped its first trailer during Saturday's Comic-Con panel, showing off Nick E. Tarabay's return as Ashur and the introduction of the first female gladiator. Spartacus creator Steven DeKnight already gave Entertainment Weekly the inside scoop on how he settled on the concept for the show, which is a revisionist history that imagines what would've happened if Ashur didn't die on Mt. Vesuvius and instead took over the gladiator school from Batiatus (John Hannah). The trailer now shows Ashur, a former slave, struggling to be accepted by high society. So he decides to make his mark by introducing "a sight never before witnessed in the arena." Tenika Davis (Wrong Turn) debuts as Achillia, a gladiatrix, i.e. female gladiator. She becomes a spectacle in the gladiatorial matches, but first she, too, must fight for the respect of the male gladiators. The trailer shows her in action, performing acrobatic flips mid-air in the arena. "We wanted to bring in the female gladiators, but historically they didn't appear in ancient Rome until about 100 years later," DeKnight previously told EW. "This time around, Ashur upsets history and introduces the female gladiator 100 years early." On Achillia, the showrunner said, "She's just as driven, just as dangerous as the men. One of the things we wanted to do on this show is, of course, have all those great staples of the original — the sex, the intrigue, the violence, the complicated twists and turns — but also offering something new. One of those main pillars were the gladiatrices." The trailer also confirms Spartacus: House of Ashur will arrive on Starz this winter, though specific timing is still unknown. Tarabay, Davis, Graham McTavish (The Witcher), Jamaica Vaughan (Home and Away), Jordi Webber (Choose Love), and Jaime Slater (Jupiter's Legacy) all joined DeKnight for the Spartacus: House of Ashur Comic-Con panel. And although DeKnight told EW that Spartacus himself is still dead in the timeline of this successor show, Liam McIntyre, who played the role on the previous Vengeance and War of the Damned seasons of the original drama, returned to moderate the conversation. Watch the trailer above. Check out more of . Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Geek Tyrant
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
SPARTACUS: HOUSE OF ASHUR – First Look Photos with Story and Character Details — GeekTyrant
Twelve years after the original Spartacus series signed off in a blaze of rebellion and carnage, Spartacus is officially back—and this time, it's Ashur's story. Spartacus: House of Ashur reimagines a world where the scheming ex-slave didn't meet his brutal end at the hands of Naevia. Instead, he survived, thrived, and is now master of his own gladiator school. Starz just dropped the first look via Entertainment Weekly, and Nick Tarabay is back. The series, created by returning showrunner Steven S. DeKnight, is an alternate-history sequel that picks up six months after War of the Damned . The rebellion is over, Spartacus is still dead, and Ashur has been handsomely rewarded by the Roman Republic for his betrayal. He's now in charge of the ludus once run by Batiatus, but holding onto power, especially as a former slave, proves far more treacherous than earning it. 'The only difference is Ashur didn't die,' DeKnight explained. 'Everybody else who died, I hate to tell the fans, they're still dead. I don't want anybody to think that we're digging up Liam McIntyre, as much as I would love to. But the war is over. The rebellion has been crushed.' That grim tone shouldn't surprise fans. The original Spartacus series was brutal, operatic, and soaked in betrayal, and this follow-up doesn't seem interested in softening things, least of all its lead. Ashur isn't getting a redemption arc. He's still 'scheming, murderous Ashur,' DeKnight confirms. But this time, he's a 'hero of the Republic' walking a tightrope in a society that mistrusts him just as much as it celebrates him. 'On the one hand, he's a hero of the Republic for helping quell the rebellion, but on the other hand, he's an ex-slave, which they don't care for,' DeKnight said. 'He's an ex-gladiator, which they care less for. And he turned on his brothers. Nobody trusts him because he, obviously, can't be trusted. So he's in this odd position where he has everything he ever dreamed of and is discovering it's really difficult to hang onto it.' Don't expect Ashur to suddenly grow a conscience. This is still the same venomous opportunist, just in a deadlier game. 'He is Ashur,' DeKnight said. 'He's the same guy, but in this position he's in now, he has to maneuver in a different way. Is he a good guy now? 'No, he's Ashur. He's scheming, murderous Ashur, but the best way to get an audience behind a character like that is roll out the people who are worse. The Romans, the elites are much worse than he is.' New cast members include Dan Hamill as Celadus, Evander Brown as Ephesius, Jordi Webber as Tarchon, Graham McTavish as Korris, and Tenika Davis as Achillia, the show's first gladiatrice. Ashur introduces female gladiators to Rome. 'We wanted to bring in the female gladiators, but historically they didn't appear in ancient Rome until about 100 years later,' DeKnight said. 'This time around, Ashur upsets history and introduces the female gladiator 100 years early. 'She's just as driven, just as dangerous as the men... One of the things we wanted to do on this show is, of course, have all those great staples of the original — the sex, the intrigue, the violence, the complicated twists and turns — but also offering something new. One of those main pillars were the gladiatrices.' DeKnight also addressed why he waited so long to return to this world. 'The reason I kept saying no year after year was that the show was incredibly difficult to do,' he said. 'And then, of course, we lost our star to cancer, Andy Whitfield, which really took the wind out of everybody's sails… I think I needed a decade to recuperate from the original experience, which was wonderful, but just grueling and emotionally gut-wrenching.' Spartacus: House of Ashur premieres this fall on Starz.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Stone slab discovery reveals clues to major deities of ancient Assyrian empire
A huge stone slab discovered near the Iraqi city of Mosul offers new clues to the major deities of the ancient Assyrians, who ruled one of antiquity's great empires. Unearthed by a German team at the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, the relief depicts the 7th-century BC ruler King Ashurbanipal, flanked by the gods Ashur and Ishtar. They are accompanied by a mythological creature known as a fish genius, who granted the gods and the king life and salvation. 'These figures suggest that a massive winged sun disk was originally mounted above the relief,' one of the archaeologists said, adding that more work is needed to fully understand the monument's significance.
