Latest news with #StevenDeKnight
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.
Forbes
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Netflix ‘Daredevil' Showrunner Explains Why Born Again's Fights Are Bigger
Daredevil Netflix I'm not sure if everyone knows this, but no, the original showrunner of the Netflix Daredevil series, Steven DeKnight, is not back for Daredevil: Born Again on Disney. That would be Dario Scardapane, but now DeKnight is responding to commentary about the difference between Daredevil action scenes between the two shows. Viewers have noted that Daredevil: Born Again has really unleashed the acrobatic abilities of Daredevil in a way that the original series never did. Big flips and his Billy Club and just really intense, larger-scale fights like the Bullseye opener. DeKnight had this to say in reply: DeKnight goes on to emphasize this is not a knock against either Born Again, or Netflix, or Marvel's old TV head, but just a literal explanation: Daredevil: Born Again Marvel If anything, I think this makes the Netflix Daredevil run even more impressive. Even if Daredevil wasn't constantly doing backflips or throwing his club around, we got sequences like the prison scene and the hallway fight that are all-time superhero classics. Yes, the Born Again Bullseye fight was amazing, and the recent 1v1 Muse fight in his lair was solid, but at least so far, I think original Daredevil did more fights more often, and better ones. I think it's also important to consider that this was a long time ago, and Daredevil did the unthinkable of making full 13 episode seasons, 39 total across three seasons. Born Again is 9, season 2 of Born Again will be 8. Most shows these days are 6-10 at best. So whatever budget Daredevil had, they had to stretch it across 4-5 more episodes than what we're seeing from Born Again here. And I would argue it used that money better, at least so far, even if I'm not trying to pit the shows against each other. I'm just saying Netflix Daredevil and DeKnight did great with what they had available. Born Again continues to be engaging, and with a few episodes left, we'll see how things end and set up season 2 from here. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
