She's alive!! Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) is back...but she definitely seems, um, different...
While much of the talk about the new Spartacus season (subtitled Vengeance) has been about actor Liam McIntyre stepping into the big shoes of the late Andy Whitfield in the title role, there is also much more for fans to buzz about – the return of Lucy Lawless, whose Lucretia seemed to have killed at the end of the Blood And Sand season and just what exactly does everyone have to be vengeful about in the new episodes that start airing tonight on Starz. The best person to ask about all of the above as well as which Spartacus character he most relates to and what his next big project is would be series creator Steven S. DeKnight, who sat down with me at the recent Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena.
Jim Halterman: Let’s first talk about Liam, who I thought did a great job in the first episode of “Vengeance.” He really does seem to make the role his own. Did you have a lot of casting choices for the role or was he really it from the time you met him?
Steven S. DeKnight: No. We scoured the world for him and it was impossible to cast the first time around but even harder the second time around because Andy was so iconic and we loved him so much and he was such a revelation and a discovery. So when Andy had to step back from the role we were faced with the impossible challenge of trying to find somebody to come in and take up the mantle. We narrowed it down to three or four choices and then brought everybody in for a screen test and poor Liam weighed like twenty pounds at that point because he’d lost all this weight for another movie and in the screen test we had them in the costumes… so there was some concern about that. And [also] the other actors were great.
We had some great, great choices, and they have all gone on to fantastic things but there was something that kept us coming back to Liam. And for us, when we were looking for the role originally and for the recast….CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
Jim Halterman is a freelance writer who spends his days interviewing the top tier of talent and creative forces in the entertainment world and then, because he's that kind of guy, he brings it all to YOU! And, because we all like free stuff, check back on Fridays for the best giveaways!! (Photo: With WHITE COLLAR's Matt Bomer at TCA Winter Press Tour, Pasadena, CA, 1/6/2012)
