Yesterday afternoon, Starz wrangled a few dozen of us bloggers and media types together in one conference call with four of the stars of Spartacus: Vengeance. Queueing us up in line, we got to ask Lucy Lawless, Liam McIntyre, Viva Bianca and Peter Mensah questions about the past, present and future of the show, those graphic sex scenes and whether or Liam likes pants. Yes, his preference towards lower body attire was discussed.
Many of the journalists understandably tried to get as much out of the cast as possible, to get as many of the unanswered questions answered now. Things like "Who's Ilithyia's baby daddy?" "What will happen with Lucretia and Ilithyia’s relationship?" and more overarching things like Spartacus finding love, the absence of John Hannah a.k.a. Batiatus and whether or not the cast would be down for a big budget movie after the series wraps.
The hot topic was Liam taking over for the recently deceased Andy Whitfield, the actor who played Spartacus in the first season, Blood and Sand. The general consensus from both sides of the call was not only did Liam work his butt off but he also brought humility and dedication to the role. The rest of the cast unanimously sang his praises regarding his work ethic and output. The actor himself was very humble in accepting the praise and the weight of the role itself.
A repeated phrase was Lucretia being "bat-shit crazy". Is she or isn't she? Lucy was very professional in stating "you have to watch the show to find out". She added that playing the character in that state was hard, "very hard". She felt the urge more than once to go the "slapstick" route but "had to sit on that urge". When Viva was questioned about who her "baby daddy was", she was also quick to say watch the show. Lucy however quipped that it was "Lucretia with a turkey baster". Now you know what kind of call we were on.