Spartacus (film) eclipse him. Gracchus, having seen Rome fall into tyranny, commits suicide. Before doing so, he bribes his friend Batiatus to rescue Spartacus's family from Crassus and carry them away to freedom. On the way out of Rome, the group passes under Spartacus's cross. Varinia is able to comfort him in his dying moments by showing him his little son, who will grow up free and knowing who his father was. The development of "Spartacus" was partly instigated by Kirk Douglas's failure to win the title role in William Wyler's "Ben-Hur". Douglas had worked with Wyler before on "Detective Story", and
Spartacus (TV series) 2012. Additionally, he revealed that Lesley-Ann Brandt, the actress who portrayed the slave Naevia, would also not be able to return for season 2 due to the delay in production. On August 1, 2011, Starz released a trailer indicating that the long-delayed second season would premiere in January 2012, under the new sub-title, "Spartacus: Vengeance". Andy Whitfield died on September 11, 2011, from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He was 39 years old. Over two months before the premiere, on November 7, 2011, Starz announced that it was renewing "Spartacus" for a third season–a second year with Liam McIntyre in the