Here's Why You Should Check Out Spartacus on Netflix

Liam McIntyre as Spartacus in “Spartacus: Vengeance”

It’s surprising that in the wake of the 2000 Ridley Scott film Gladiator, there was never a significant rise in gladiator-related content in pop culture and entertainment. While the film itself was a standalone experience, these things often come in waves when they’re successful. Just think about some of the connections between film franchises in the past 15 years or so. The success of The Hunger Games film franchise was immediately followed by attempts to adapt similarly adventurous young adult book series like The Maze Runner and Divergent; Pirates Of The Caribbean is still producing sequels, and likely inspired networks to produce television shows in a similar vein like Starz’s Black Sails; even Game Of Thrones may have inspired a return to medieval fantasy with director Guy Ritchie apparently working on a massive King Arthur film saga.

And yet, Gladiator, one of the most iconic films of the 21st century, winning a Best Picture Oscar® in 2001, seems to have died out. The film possibly had an influence on some of the Greek epics to follow, such as Troy or 300; however, the very concept of skilled fighters battling in the arena for the viewing pleasure of history’s greatest empire—a concept oozing with cinematic potential—has yet to pop up in another major film. Instead, it has been relegated largely to gaming.

In gaming, the concept of gladiator battles is a very natural subject for developers, fostering one-on-one competition, player improvement, team building, and so on. Glue Games Inc.’s “Blood & Glory” game may be the most prominent example, in that it is one of the most impressive mobile games out there. It combines beautiful graphics with exciting game play to give players a true taste of arena action. And in an entirely different format, the “Call of the Colosseum” game at Intercasino also employs arena excitement to entice players. As you can see on the site, the game works as an ordinary slot machine, but it uses the fun concept of the Emperor giving a thumbs-up, at which point players can enjoy free mini-games. Fun fact: In the ancient arena, this meant a gladiator should kill his subdued opponent, although today, the thumbs-up is misunderstood to mean “live.”

For those who wonder where they can find more cinematic gladiatorial content, there is an answer in the form of one of the most shockingly overlooked television shows in recent memory. The Starz series Spartacus is a big, bold, and accurate take on gladiator culture in ancient Rome. Now that the entire series is available for streaming on Netflix (in addition to airing on Syfy), it’s time to look back and give Spartacus its due.

The series began with a season titled Blood & Sand, which depicts the capture of a Thracian soldier by a Roman general. The soldier ultimately earns the favor of an arena crowd, is dubbed “Spartacus,” and then forced to train as a gladiator in the ludus (essentially a house where gladiators are trained) of Roman citizen and lanista (manager of a ludus) Batiatus. The season is bursting with action, sex, and dramatic intrigue. Spartacus learns to play the part of a gladiator despite thirsting for freedom. All the gladiators train and forge friendships together, while intermittently being forced to fight for their lives in the arena; through it all, Batiatus and his wife strive to elevate their standing in Roman society.

Unfortunately, the season took a tragic turn after Blood & Sand when Andy Whitfield, the actor who brilliantly depicted Spartacus, had to undergo cancer treatments. While this was happening, Starz produced a prequel series titled Gods of the Arena, cleverly showing the origins of some of the popular gladiators populating Batiatus’ ludus. The prequel season also introduced Gannicus, a popular champion fighter who did not appear in Blood & Sand.

Beyond these two seasons, Spartacus lost some of its luster following Whitfield’s passing in September 2011. The producers pressed on with Liam McIntyre stepping into the role of Spartacus, spending the third season starting a revolution, and the fourth waging war on Rome (and coming into contact with a returning Gannicus). McIntyre filled in admirably, but the series was not the same without Whitfield.

Overall, it was the cinematic gladiator experience we’d been waiting for since Gladiator, but the series never seemed to get its due. Spartacus was an audacious series, to be fair. Violence, sex, blood, and general nudity are all gratuitous, and the dialogue can be comically dramatic. But the action is undeniably superb; the political scheming is not unlike what people love so much in Game of Thrones, and the acting is almost surprisingly top-notch. Give this series a look, if you haven’t already.

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