Spartacus: Gods of the Arena is a l mini-series to Starz’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The story follows the rise of the House of Batiatus before the arriaval of Spartacus. It focuses primarily on Quintus Lentulus Batiatus (John Hanna), his wife, Lucretia (Lucy Lawless), and her shameless confidante Gaia (Jaime Murray), Batiatus, having just taken over his father’s ludus of gladiators, looks to climb the social ladder while the old guard tries to keep him and his gladiators, led by Gannicus (Dustin Clare), out of the arena’s spotlight.
Gods of the Arena came about when Spartacus: Blood and Sand star Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma forcing the second season of Blood and Sand to be delayed while the actor sought treatment. Not wanting to lose the momentum and fan base Blood and Sand had established the producers expanded a single flashback episode from the second season into a six-part mini-series.
For those unfamiliar with Spartacus, the series is essentially a soft-core soap opera drenched in blood. It’s sex, violence with a little bit of plot to keep the action moving. Behind all the mayhem and titillation Blood and Sand featured a decent storyline that kept my interest. Gods of the Arena doesn’t fair quite as well as its story feels bloated and unfocused. Had the series been closer to 200 minutes in length, rather than 300, it could have been more focused. Considering the filler tends to be sex scenes or gory gladiatorial sequences I doubt that many fans are going to complain. I would have preferred a little more restraint as it all starts to look a bit too much like 1979’s Caligula.