{"id":166923,"date":"2025-12-04T02:04:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T02:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/166923\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T02:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T02:04:17","slug":"thrilling-and-dynamic-historical-drama-spinoff-lands-perfect-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/166923\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThrilling\u201d and \u201cdynamic\u201d historical drama spinoff lands perfect score"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"1\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">New Spartacus spinoff series House of Ashur has debuted to a perfect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/tv\/spartacus_house_of_ashur\/s01\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/tv\/spartacus_house_of_ashur\/s01\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Rotten Tomatoes\" data-node-id=\"1.5\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> score. The new STARZ series, which comes 12 years after the original concluded, posits an alternative ending to a key character.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"4\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">In it, Ashur (Nick E Tarabay) survives his death and instead kills Spartacus, subsequently being rewarded with a gladiator school by the Roman Empire. The new show depicts his rise to power as Dominus among the Roman gladiators.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"6\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Also starring the likes of Xena: Warrior Princess&#8217; Lucy Lawless and The Witcher&#8217;s Graham McTavish, House of Ashur has so far drawn acclaim from critics, with a 100% score based on 5 reviews.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"10\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\"><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2025\/tv\/reviews\/spartacus-house-of-ashur-review-starz-1236584921\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2025\/tv\/reviews\/spartacus-house-of-ashur-review-starz-1236584921\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Variety\" data-node-id=\"10.0\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Variety<\/a> called it both &#8220;thrilling&#8221; and &#8220;dynamic&#8221;, adding: &#8220;A classic tale of the haves and have-nots in ancient Rome, where power means everything, [creator Steven S] DeKnight\u2019s world is as enticing as ever.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"12\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/streaming\/spartacus-house-of-ashur-starz-tv-review-2025\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/streaming\/spartacus-house-of-ashur-starz-tv-review-2025\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"RogerEbert.com\" data-node-id=\"12.0\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RogerEbert.com<\/a> enthused that the series is as good as the original, writing that it &#8220;offers us a rarity in a world where prequels and reboots threaten to stifle all originality: a spin-off series that not only honors the legacy of its predecessor, but one that, at times, rivals it&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"nick e tarabay ashur spartacus house of ashur\" title=\"Nick E Tarabay Ashur Spartacus House of Ashur\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1200\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/spartacus-house-of-ashur-nick-e-tarabay-6930af86c9fd9.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Prime Video<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"15\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tech\/best-tech-deals\/g35899960\/best-streaming-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tech\/best-tech-deals\/g35899960\/best-streaming-services\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Best streaming services\" data-node-id=\"15.1\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"17\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">&#8220;Spartacus: House of Ashur recaptures much of what made the original series great, and proves this franchise hasn&#8217;t lost a beat in its 12-year hiatus,&#8221; echoed <a href=\"https:\/\/collider.com\/spartacus-house-of-ashur-review-starz\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/collider.com\/spartacus-house-of-ashur-review-starz\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Collider\" data-node-id=\"17.2\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Collider<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"19\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/triblive.com\/aande\/movies-tv\/tv-talk-farscape-star-claudia-black-is-the-lady-macbeth-of-new-spartacus\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/triblive.com\/aande\/movies-tv\/tv-talk-farscape-star-claudia-black-is-the-lady-macbeth-of-new-spartacus\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Pittsburgh Tribune\" data-node-id=\"19.1\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pittsburgh Tribune<\/a> wrote that &#8220;the franchise\u2019s delicious character drama amps up a few episodes into the season&#8221;, noting: &#8220;This is the good stuff that makes Spartacus more than the sum of its arguably gratuitous parts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"spartacus house of ashur jordi webber graham mctavish nick e tarabay tenika davis\" title=\"Spartacus House of Ashur Jordi Webber Graham McTavish Nick E Tarabay Tenika Davis\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1200\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/spartacus-house-of-ashur-jordi-webber-graham-mctavish-nick-e-tarabay-tenika-davis-6930affcbc6c2.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Prime Video<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"22\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Spartacus: House of Ashur was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tv\/ustv\/a42825532\/spartacus-spin-off-in-development\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tv\/ustv\/a42825532\/spartacus-spin-off-in-development\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"first announced\" data-node-id=\"22.2\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">first announced<\/a> back in 2023, DeKnight teasing at the time that they were &#8220;crafting something truly unique and unusual for the next chapter in this epic story&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"24\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">&#8220;It&#8217;s such an incredible honour to be invited to return to the world of Spartacus and to be met with unbridled creative support from my colleagues at Starz and Lionsgate,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"26\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Spartacus: House of Ashur streams from Saturday, 6 December on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/video\/offers?benefitId=mgm&amp;tag=digitalspy.com-21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/video\/offers?benefitId=mgm\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"MGM+\" data-vars-ga-product-id=\"022a0f84-1649-43ba-a33b-7e55ec26f9b2\" data-node-id=\"26.2\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/video\/offers?benefitId=mgm\" data-product-url=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/video\/offers?benefitId=mgm\" data-affiliate=\"true\" data-affiliate-url=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/video\/offers?benefitId=mgm&amp;tag=digitalspy.com-21\" data-affiliate-network=\"{&quot;site_id&quot;:&quot;53fd7fa5-d43c-401b-823b-b21cf6cddcd6&quot;,&quot;metadata&quot;:{&quot;links&quot;:{&quot;default&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/video\/offers?benefitId=mgm&amp;tag=digitalspy.com-21&quot;,&quot;sem&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/video\/offers?benefitId=mgm&amp;tag=digitalspy.co.uk-lift-21&quot;,&quot;social&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/video\/offers?benefitId=mgm&amp;tag=digitalspy.co.uk-soc-lift-21&quot;}},&quot;network&quot;:{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Amazon&quot;},&quot;product_metadata&quot;:null,&quot;afflink_redirect&quot;:&quot;\/_p\/afflink\/10LbE\/amazon-placeholder&quot;}\" data-vars-ga-product-price=\"$0.00\" data-vars-ga-product-retailer-id=\"445db757-8e9d-4378-9036-1c3e61c503ed\" data-vars-ga-link-treatment=\"(not set) | (not set)\" class=\"body-link product-links css-1lh7k7j e1aq0z090\">MGM+<\/a> in the UK, and Friday, 5 December on <a href=\"https:\/\/go.redirectingat.com?id=127X991730&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.starz.com%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.starz.com\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"STARZ\" data-vars-ga-product-id=\"6b36646f-e0ad-49ac-8af9-69eda7e405e2\" data-node-id=\"26.4\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.starz.com\/\" data-product-url=\"https:\/\/www.starz.com\/\" data-affiliate=\"true\" data-affiliate-url=\"https:\/\/go.redirectingat.com?id=127X991730&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.starz.com%2F\" data-affiliate-network=\"{&quot;site_id&quot;:&quot;53fd7fa5-d43c-401b-823b-b21cf6cddcd6&quot;,&quot;metadata&quot;:null,&quot;network&quot;:{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Skimlinks&quot;},&quot;product_metadata&quot;:null,&quot;afflink_redirect&quot;:&quot;\/_p\/afflink\/10LbD\/starz-hit-movies&quot;}\" data-vars-ga-product-price=\"$5.00\" data-vars-ga-product-retailer-id=\"30849521-c4de-4f61-aa82-5fb07182cabe\" data-vars-ga-link-treatment=\"(not set) | (not set)\" class=\"body-link product-links css-1lh7k7j e1aq0z090\">STARZ<\/a> in the US.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"29\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating music icon Dolly Parton, is here! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hearstmagazines.co.uk\/special-editions-subscriptions-lvldollyparton\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.hearstmagazines.co.uk\/special-editions-subscriptions-lvldollyparton\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Buy Dolly at 80 in newsagents or online\" data-node-id=\"29.0.3\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Buy Dolly at 80 in newsagents or online<\/a>, priced at just \u00a38.99.<br data-node-id=\"29.1.0\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764813857_554_0a81bfbe-1026-4736-8d8a-d20144e2ec87_1551709595.png\" alt=\"Headshot of Sam Warner\" title=\"Headshot of Sam Warner\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-o0wq4v ev8dhu53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/movies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">movies<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TV<\/a> and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/author\/samwarner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NME<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.screendaily.com\/sam-warner\/1100838.contributor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Screen International<\/a>. \u00a0Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/lord-of-the-rings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lord of the Rings<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/love-is-blind\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Love Is Blind<\/a>, and is equally in his element crossing every &#8216;t&#8217; and dotting every &#8216;i&#8217; as a sub-editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Spartacus spinoff series House of Ashur has debuted to a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. The new STARZ&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[635,99494,637,146,1345,85,46,636,99493,411],"class_list":["post-166923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-ae29b7c3-4f44-49b0-ab33-5e2a5c3334aa","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-hasproduct-true","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-thrilling-historical-drama-lands-perfect-score","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}