The traitorous Ashur (Nick Tarabay) is dead no more in Steven S. DeKnight‘s gladiator world. Spartacus: House of Ashur gives him a second chance at life in a reimagined version of the Spartacus ending, and Starz has revealed how Ashur comes back to life in the spinoff, premiering with two episodes on December 5. His return is entwined with Lucy Lawless‘s guest-star role as Lucretia, her iconic character from the original series.
Here’s a breakdown of how DeKnight is explaining Ashur’s unlikely return to the land of the living.
Is Lucy Lawless in Spartacus: House of Ashur as Lucretia?
Lucretia and Ashur’s fates were frequently tangled in Spartacus. Lucretia was a woman of moderate status in Capua who was married to Quintus Lentulus Batiatus. The couple schemed their way up the social ladder, only to fall when Spartacus (Andy Whitfield and Liam McIntyre) led a rebellion against their social class. Spartacus: Vengeance revealed that Lucretia survived the rebellion with Ashur’s help.
It’s the spirit of Lucretia who helps bring Ashur back from the dead in the opening scenes of Spartacus: House of Ashur, as revealed in the sneak peek below. The scene serves as the setup for this new take on the Spartacus tale. It happens early in the first episode. Lawless only guest stars in Episode 1, but it’s a pivotal moment that gives the show liftoff.
How does Ashur come back to life in Spartacus: House of Ashur?
Ashur died at the end of Spartacus: Vengeance. He was decapitated by Naevia (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). In Spartacus: House of Ashur, we find Ashur in the afterlife, seemingly moments after his death, with a bloody Lucretia standing before him holding Ilithyia’s (Viva Bianca) baby. She gives Ashur the choice to return to the world of the living and start again, this time with rewards for his treachery in Spartacus’s rebellion. It’s “a new reality, uncoupled from history, where you did not perish upon Vesuvius,” she says.
After describing the events of Spartacus’s death, Lucretia says, “Yet the Fates weave many threads. Your untimely passing was but single path of what might have been.” She gives him the choice to be revived and live a life “where instead you aligned with might Crassus, the richest man in all the republic, and his dog of war, Gaius Julius Caesar.”
In this alternate reality, Ashur is the one who killed Spartacus, “and in the act saved Crassus, who rewards you with patronage and all that once belonged to my noble husband,” Lucretia says.
“Do you desire to know where that fate would’ve led? Awake then, and embrace a light that might’ve been,” she says with an insidious laugh. Ashur awakes in a bed with Messia (Ivana Baquero) and Hilara (Jamaica Vaughan).
A house slave in Ashur’s villa, Messia is outwardly demure and obedient, but inwardly roiling with unrequited passion. An elevated house slave in Ashur’s villa, Hilara is deeply in love with Ashur and will do anything to protect him. She’s a kind, compassionate soul struggling to remain so in a brutal world.
Ashur’s new life makes him Dominus of his own ludus, with a doctore (gladiator trainer) named Korris (Outlander‘s Graham McTavish). Korris is a former gladiator who has won his freedom in the arena. An imposing man deeply entrenched in the ideals of honor and loyalty, Korris is thoughtful, yet deadly.
This ludus will soon host the franchise’s first-ever woman gladiator, called a gladiatrix. Her name is Achillia, played by Tenika Davis. Get to know the new faces of Capua in the Spartacus: House of Ashur character gallery here.
Spartacus: House of Ashur, Series Premiere, Friday, December 5, Starz