Nick E. Tarabay on resurrecting his Spartacus role for House of Ashur and reuniting with Lucy Law...

The star of &34;Spartacus: House of Ashur&34; reintroduces his complicated exgladiator in a new light. Nick E. Tarabay on resurrecting his Spartacus role for House of Ashur and reuniting with Lucy Lawless The star of &34;Spartacus: House of Ashur&34; reintroduces his complicated exgladiator in a new light. By Nick Romano :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/NicholasRomanoauthorphotoadc9b60763e34711935cbf7b3d768d24.jpg) Nick Romano is a senior editor at with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in Vanity Fair, Vulture, IGN, and more.

The star of "Spartacus: House of Ashur" reintroduces his complicated ex-gladiator in a new light.

Nick E. Tarabay on resurrecting his Spartacus role for House of Ashur and reuniting with Lucy Lawless

The star of "Spartacus: House of Ashur" reintroduces his complicated ex-gladiator in a new light.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in *Vanity Fair*, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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November 20, 2025 6:10 p.m. ET

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- Nick E. Tarabay explains why it took him a while to let go of his character after *Spartacus: House of Ashur*.

- The actor describes reuniting with former cast mate Lucy Lawless for the opening of the spinoff series.

- Taraby reveals there's been rumblings about bringing back John Hannah's Batiatus on potential future seasons in some way.

Nick E. Tarabay knows the exact date he received some career-shifting news.

It was Aug. 11, 2022. He was in France. Steven S. DeKnight, the creator of the beloved Starz gladiator drama *Spartacus*, texts the actor behind Ashur to say, "I wanna share a juicy little nugget with you."

That nugget was *Spartacus: House of Ashur*, a new successor series DeKnight was building around Tarabay's character, an ex-gladiator and self-serving antagonist who was beheaded during a climactic moment on Mt. Vesuvius. However, the spinoff would rewrite that history and instead allow Ashur to take the reins of the "ludus" gladiator school after playing a key role in bringing down Spartacus.

"He told me what he had in mind for it, and it was absolutely intriguing and absolutely delicious," Tarabay tells **. "I was like, 'Hell yes!'"

EW can reveal an exclusive clip (shown above) of Tarabay back in action as Ashur, now thrust fully into Roman society. The actor also digs into how he resurrected this character, how he defines him now in this revisionist history, and reuniting with his former *Spartacus* pal Lucy Lawless, who returns as Lucretia to usher Ashur into this new reality.

Nick E. Tarabay as Ashur in 'Spartacus: House of Ashur'.

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**: Are you the kind of person who feels like when something is put to bed, it's put to bed? **

**NICK E. TARABAY:** Honestly, it depends. I do suffer from PTSD sometimes with certain characters. I would have a hard time letting go of it, especially with this show. After I finished *House of Ashur*, it took me a while to let go of Ashur because the world of Ashur was so immersing and so demanding that I was eating, sleeping, and breathing Ashur for six months and about four months prior to the end in preparation. If the role is very enticing and very immersive, then yeah. Not that I would carry it as a Method actor. I wouldn't start going around saying, 'F--- Jupiter's cock!' or anything.

**I've come to think of this show as the anti-*Spartacus* *Spartacus*. A big question I had was, How do you make a *Spartacus* show centered around the guy who killed Spartacus in this new reality?**

But also to clarify that, he helped in the killing of Spartacus. It's not like me and Spartacus had a face-off and I beat him — because I wouldn't be able to. You catch a glimpse of it in the trailer, where you see the spear being thrown. People thinking, "Oh! Did Ashur really? He wouldn't be able to." Of course he wouldn't. That's a given.

**But what kinds of questions did you have to wrap your head around for this new reality for the show? **

When I had the original talk with Steven about *Spartacus*, he broke down what he had in mind and what the world is creating. He teased me with the very last line Ashur would say in the very last scene of the show. I can't reveal that, but I was hooked. I always find that world to be very rich, and there's so many stories to be told about the Roman world and what Spartacus did to history.

We're taking over from what Spartacus has done. It's not like we're denying facts. Yes, Spartacus died. He did what he did, he rebelled and conquered so many things, but now he came to his demise and I took over. What's the ripple effect of this? The city of Rome is feeling that fear of, Could this happen again? A slave could stand up against the Republic. So Ashur has to blend into a world that he thought would appreciate him. He's suppressed, and suppressed even more than he was before.

Jamaica Vaughan, Nick E. Tarabay, and Ivana Baquero on 'Spartacus: House of Ashur'.

**Now that Ashur is at the center of this new show, are we supposed to empathize with him? I still have such a complicated relationship to this character from the last show.**

These questions I don't ask because this is up to the audience, how they receive things. My job as an actor is to absolutely be a storyteller. I am to honor the writing. I can never make it about me. It's always about the story. So how the audience feels about it, that's up to them because it's very subjective. Spartacus, for example, is considered a hero among many, but Spartacus has also killed a lot of people in the pursuit of this freedom. Some of these people that he's killed will see him as a villain, not necessarily as a hero. I have a feeling of who Ashur is and what Ashur's motivations and goals are, and then leave the rest of that to the audience, however they perceive it. Some people would love it, some people would hate it, but that's the joy.

**I love how you previously described Ashur. You never really saw him as evil or really a villain. You just saw him doing things because he was in survival mode. How did you define Ashur in the context of this show when he's not surviving in the same way?**

He is still surviving, but he's only surviving harsher circumstances now because now he's dealing with the Romans. This is a brutal world. Steven and his writing team did it brilliantly because they said, "How do we get somebody who evokes such emotions from people? How do we get someone who's done horrible things and make people root for him?" By putting him in the world with people who are worse than him. They don't even call him by his name. They always refer to him as the Syrian. It's a constant reminder of putting you in your place. You do not belong. You are an outsider. And then the circumstances get worse and worse.

**Lucy Lawless is there to help usher in this new age for *House of Ashur*. What do you remember about reuniting with her in this new capacity?**

I love Lucy! What a brave woman Lucy was. We had these scenes in *Vengeance*. They were rough scenes. They were physically imposing and she was a champ. She would go there. It is such a privilege to work with people that want go there. She pushes the limit and she loves the work. We still check in with each other every now and then. So having her start off this show was a beautiful blessing. In the beginning, it was a bit of a scheduling issue, but it worked out in the end. I'm sure they had a Plan B in case that didn't work out based on scheduling issues, but they really were trying to get Lucy of all people because of my relationship with her, because she's the one [Lucretia] who caused my demise. So it was very essential to have her launch me into my new world.

**Is it fair to say that the show grapples with the essence of Lucretia in different ways?**

Not so much, but not to say it's not a possibility. Obviously, she's an essential role because she gives them that "what if?", that glimpse. So we'll see how that wraps around. I'm sure at one point she's gonna come back and play something, as well. I've heard Steven also entertaining an idea of even bringing John Hannah at some point, Batiatus, which is another person I absolutely loved working with. So he has his eyes open for this. I ultimately trust Steven and his writing. He doesn't put anything in by accident. If it's there, there's a reason for it. We'll see. In season 2, maybe.**

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.*

*Spartacus: House of Ashur* premieres Dec. 5 on Starz.

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