With the long-delayed second season of Spartacus: Blood and Sand officially a go, who will replace cancer-stricken Andy Whitfield as Rome’s most famous gladiator?
Last Friday, Starz’s boss Chris Albrecht said the was “confident that we will find an actor who can ably step into Spartacus’ sandals.” I hear that that same day, the pay cable network’s executives had received a screen test for the role done by former Prison Break star Dominic Purcell.
Throwing Purcell’s name into the mix is an intriguing proposition. For one, he does have the the physique to pull off a believable gladiator. Australian actor Liam McIntyre is said to still be in serious contention for the role, and he continues to bulk up as Starz reportedly liked him as an actor but his thin frame was a problem.
It’s not clear what the network’s final decision will be, but if Purcell does indeed get the lead, his last-minute hire would mirror his 11th-hour casting on Fox’s Prison Break, where he auditioned and got the role three days before the pilot was to go into production. And in another peculiar coincidence, Purcell’s Prison Break co-star Wentworth Miller reportedly expressed interest in taking over the Spartacus role back in October.
Actor Robert Knepper continues his villainous streak.
Coming off a role as bad guy Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell on Fox's "Prison Break," Knepper has been tapped as the new lead villain on NBC's "Heroes" next season.
In at least six episodes of the series' fourth season, Knepper will play Samuel, a Jim Jones type -- charismatic but evil, with a twisted sense of humor.
"Heroes" is slated to return in the fall in a new time slot, 8 p.m. Mondays. The sci-fi drama -- which enjoys a strong online following -- will share its time period with another fan favorite, "Chuck," which will take over in midseason.
Knepper is perhaps best known for playing a character on the former "Prison Break" series who viewers loved to hate: T-Bag was a murderer, rapist and supremacist. On the big screen, he recently was seen in "Transporter 3" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still."
They've broken out, been the subject of a manhunt, been imprisoned and broken out again. Now the run for "Prison Break" is at an end.FOX announced Tuesday (Jan. 13) during its TCA press tour session that "Prison Break" will end its four-season run in the spring. The final episodes will debut Friday, April 17.The show's final season has followed brothers Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) and Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), along with a Homeland Security agent ( Michael Rapaport) working to take down the Company, the shadowy firm that initially framed Lincoln and set the whole thing in motion.This season felt like a natural end point for the show, FOX Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly says: "To keep it going was going to be, creatively, really stretching the concept."That said, Reilly thinks the show's producers "have a really cool ending" in mind for the finale.The final run is currently set for four episodes. Reilly says there's some chance a couple extra episodes could be tacked on, but the network hasn't confirmed them yet.Source: Zap2It.com
With the long-delayed second season of Spartacus: Blood and Sand officially a go, who will replace cancer-stricken Andy Whitfield as Rome’s most famous gladiator?
