At long last, fans of Starz's gladiator drama Spartacus have returned to the arena, with the new spinoff series Spartacus: House of Ashur. After debuting its first three episodes, House of Ashur is off to a strong start as it imagines an alternate history, one where the scheming Ashur survived his fateful meeting with Spartacus' rebels on Mount Vesuvius in Spartacus: Vengeance, and was elevated to a higher station in Roman society for his part in betraying his former comrades.
To celebrate the release of Spartacus: House of Ashur, we sat down with Spartacus creator Steven S. DeKnight and the actor behind Ashur himself, Nick E. Tarabay, to talk about the genesis of the spinoff. Spartacus: House of Ashur is a fairly unusual series in that it's a 'what if' story, which imagines what a different life for Ashur might have been like. This unique approach allows it to serve as a psuedo-sequel to Spartacus while also forging its own, bold path. And getting this project to the screen was every bit as bold an endeavor as Ashur's quest for fortune and renown.
Spartacus: House of Ashur was a daring pitch for showrunner Steven S. DeKnight
"On the original show, at the end of the season, Spartacus: Vengeance, the Asher character talking to, Lucretia, Lucy Lawless, has this line...that he's gonna help the Romans bring down Spartacus and then he's going to be given Batiatus' ludus and all of his holdings, and it's the rise of the House of Ashur," explained DeKnight. "And I always thought, man, that would have been a really fun show to work on, you know, besides the fact we chopped off his head."
While doing this alternate life for Ashur was a fun idea that stuck with DeKnight, it was anything but a sure bet when he pitched the series to Starz. '"I thought they would throw me out of the room," the showrunner said of his meeting where he presented the outlandish spinoff concept.
"This time around when I was approached about doing another Spartacus, a spin-off, I went through a bunch of different ideas," DeKnight recalled. "Obviously, the usual suspects, Caesar and Crassus and Pompey and the Triumvirate. Anthony and Cleopatra. But I really wanted to go back to those early days of the show, the upstairs-downstairs drama, and I thought, well, why not pitch, what if Ashur was alive and how would that change history? And, shockingly, and I'm delighted, Lionsgate and Stars, I thought they would throw me out of the room, they said, great let's do that. And then I called [Nick E. Tarabay] up."
Of course, Tarabay was on board for Spartacus: House of Ashur. It's not often that an original cast member from a show like Spartacus gets brought back for a new spinoff, let alone to lead that series. Ashur was a supporting villain in the original show, but here, he's front and center as the main star.
"I absolutely loved it, man," said Tarabay. "To go back to that world, to go back to this beautiful character was just a treat for an actor. We love having good roles as an actor, you want to have good roles, you want to be challenged, you want to be uncomfortable. And absolutely that world that Steven DeKnight creates...kind of puts you on your toes. So, I was very excited to go back to it."
"And then when he started explaining what the new show is about, I didn't sleep for two years," Tarabay added. "I'm excited. So yeah, it was an absolute pleasure to go back to that world."
Spartacus: House of Ashur and the rise of the gladiatrix
Since Spartacus: House of Ashur is set after the original series, it allowed DeKnight to do something with the story that he wasn't able to with Spartacus: introduce female gladiators. Beginning with the show's second episode, Ashur takes a woman bound for slavery whom he names Achillia, and sets her on the path to the arena.
"I always wanted to bring in the female gladiator, the gladiatrix. But historically, that happened about 80 years after the events in the original Spartacus, and we wanted to stick very close to history," DeKnight said. "So, one of the things that really excited me about this idea, it was like, oh, Asher's alive. This is the first domino of how he changes history. His back's up against the wall. He needs a gimmick. And that was really, really exciting to me. And then, I can't reveal it, but the way he affects history moving forward was really exciting."
For Tarabay, returning to Ashur as a character also presented opportunities to go deeper than the original Spartacus — and to explore parts of Ashur's personality audiences have never seen before. "Steven added a new layer for Ashur, which I really love, a different side of him," the actor said. "I cannot reveal what it is, but with the introduction of a certain character in the show....you see a different side of Ashur. And that's, to me anyway as an actor, that was kind of my engine towards this season...that moves him. I like that we added that color to Ashur. So you're going to see him in a different light."
"And I also love the fact that no matter what people think about Ashur, in this season, once he's put with the Romans, you're going to perceive Ashur a little bit different. Because the Romans, woo, they are brutal. You think Asher was bad. I have a feeling that the audience is gonna end up rooting for him."Nick E. Tarabay
Tarabay isn't joking about the Romans being brutal toward Ashur. We get a glimpse at that right in the show's opening episodes, as Cossutia (Claudia Black) and Proculus (Simon Arblaster) constantly find ways to demean and ridicule the Syrian. Having seen a few more of the episodes to come, I would expect that to get worse for our former slave turned Dominus before it gets better.
"How do you get the audience to root for such a despicable character?" DeKnight asked. "Now Ashur doesn't think, he is just reacting, but of course the answer is introduce people who are worse."
"Much worse," added Tarabay.
Spartacus: House of Ashur is currently airing, with new episodes premiering Fridays at midnight PST / 3:00 a.m. ET on the Starz app and 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. ET on Starz proper. For more on the latest episode, check out our full-spoiler recap for Episode 3, as well as our exclusive interview with Graham McTavish breaking down its bloodiest scene.