Spartacus: House of Ashur sets December release date on Starz, reviving Ashur in a history-bending twist on the classic gladiator saga.
Starz is officially bringing back the bloody world of Spartacus with a bold new chapter, Spartacus: House of Ashur, which premieres December 5 with its first two episodes. The series marks the fifth installment in the long-running gladiator saga and asks one big question: what if Ashur had lived?
Thirteen years after fans last saw Nick E. Tarabay’s Ashur meet his brutal end in Spartacus: Vengeance, the character returns in this alternate-history series. This time, Ashur has clawed his way out of slavery and now rules the same ludus that once owned him. But power in ancient Rome comes with dangerous new enemies, and betrayal is more valuable than loyalty.
Series creator Steven S. DeKnight is back at the helm as showrunner, reuniting with Lionsgate Television to expand the franchise he launched in 2010. Spartacus: House of Ashur joins the legacy of Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010), Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011), Spartacus: Vengeance (2012), and Spartacus: War of the Damned (2013).
Starz describes the new series as “a thrilling, erotic, history-bending, roller-coaster experience,” flipping expectations with fresh characters and shocking battles. The official synopsis teases, “Welcome to the House of Ashur. 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’s play compared to surviving the savage world of Roman politics — a cutthroat game in which betrayal isn’t a sin, it’s currency.”
The show also introduces Achillia, a powerful gladiatrix played by Tenika Davis, who fights to prove herself in a man’s world. Together with Ashur, she fuels a spectacle that both disrupts and offends Rome’s elite with every drop of blood spilled.
Tarabay is joined by a stacked cast including Graham McTavish (Korris), Jordi Webber (Tarchon), Jamaica Vaughan (Hilara), Ivana Baquero (Messia), Claudia Black (Cossutia), India Shaw-Smith (Viridia), Jackson Gallagher (Caesar), Jaime Slater (Cornelia), and Leigh Gill (Satyrus).
Alongside DeKnight, Rick Jacobson and Aaron Helbing serve as executive producers.
With Ashur reimagined as the master of his own fate, Spartacus: House of Ashur promises to take fans back into the brutal, erotic, and unpredictable world that made the franchise a Starz sensation.
