{"id":659362,"date":"2026-05-22T23:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T23:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/659362\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T23:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T23:16:10","slug":"spartacus-house-of-ashur-canceled-at-starz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/659362\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Spartacus: House Of Ashur’ Canceled At Starz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: Steven S. Knight\u2019s big return to the \u201cSpartacus\u201d Universe with Spartacus: House of Ashur<\/a> will not go beyond its freshman season at Starz<\/a>, which has canceled the gladiator drama. Lionsgate<\/a> Television, which produces the series, is currently shopping it to other platforms, sources tell Deadline.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Spartacus sequel could not match the buzz and viewership levels of the original 2010 series. Additionally, the makeup of the follow-up\u2019s audience did not quite align with Starz\u2019s focus on women and underrepresented audiences, sources said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe sword-and-sandal genre is inherently male-skewing and popular with white viewers. Still, like its predecessor, House of Ashur features a diverse cast with storylines that feature prominently women and characters of underrepresented backgrounds. Examples include powerful Black gladiatrix Achillia, played by Tenika Davis, as well as multiple spotlights of LGBTQIA+ characters. <\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing Starz\u2019s split from Lionsgate, House of Ashur is also no longer owned by the network. To shore up its financial future, Starz has been leaning into more owned series<\/a> such as Fightland, executive produced by Curtis \u201c50 Cent\u201d Jackson, and the as-yet-untitled family drama set in the world of Black rodeo in Texas.<\/a> The Nick E. Taraby-led House of Ashur was picked up by Starz in 2023, prior to its separation from Lionsgate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: 2026 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Streaming & Cable<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"'Spartacus:<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Jordi Webber, Graham McTavish, Nick E. Tarabay and Tenika Davis in \u2018Spartacus: House of Ashur\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStarz<\/p>\n

\n\tSpartacus: House of Ashur asks the question: What if Ashur, who died in Spartacus: Vengeance, had lived, and the Romans rewarded his treachery with the gladiator school where he once bled?<\/p>\n

\n\tSet in an alternate timeline, Ashur returned in the new series. No longer a slave, Ashur has clawed his way to power, owning the same ludus that once owned him. But ruling a band of merciless gladiators is child\u2019s play compared to surviving the savage world of Roman politics \u2014 a cutthroat game in which betrayal isn\u2019t a sin, it\u2019s currency. <\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: 2026 TV Series Renewals Photo Gallery<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tHe flips tradition on its head by unleashing Achillia, a fierce and powerful gladiatrix eager to prove herself worthy in a man\u2019s world. Together, they ignite a new kind of spectacle that shocks, disrupts, and offends the elite with every drop of blood.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to Tarabay and Davis, the cast also includes Graham McTavish, Jordi Webbe, Jamaica Vaughan, Ivana Baquero, Claudia Black as Cossutia, India Shaw-Smith, Jackson Gallagher, Jaime Slater, and Leigh Gill. Lucy Lawless returned to the franchise in the premiere episode to set up the alternate timeline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Steven S. Knight\u2019s big return to the \u201cSpartacus\u201d Universe with Spartacus: House of Ashur will not go…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,14968,140916,50738,283970,92],"class_list":["post-659362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-lionsgate","tag-spartacus-house-of-ashur","tag-starz","tag-steven-deknight","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}