Review: 'Spartacus' makes best of bad situation

I often dread prequels. It has always seemed like a way to make money off a dead franchise. For an example, please see the three most recent Star Wars movies.

Shockingly, "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena" does not follow this trend. The violent Starz original series was in the midst of filming its second season when lead actor Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with lymphoma. Whitfield recovered from the disease and filming restarted. Sadly, Whitfield relapsed and shooting had to stop. The six part "Gods of the Arena" series was then quickly thrown together in what seemed to be an effort from the producers to keep the franchise alive.

For obvious reasons, it seemed like "Gods of the Arena" was doomed to failure. After watching the first episode, I'm happy to say I was mistaken.

Fans of the series will be pleasantly surprised to see all their favorite characters and actors from the first season – with the exception of Whitfield – return to the screen as younger versions of themselves. With such a short time to put this series together, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to get every actor to return, especially those whose character died in the first season. This creates a sense of backwards continuity in the series. Fans won't be struggling to figure out who is who, but will instead enjoy finding out what made their favorite characters into who they are.

The story is shockingly rich. It focuses on Batiatus' (John Hannah) rise to power as a trainer of gladiators. As the villain in the first season, I thought it would be difficult to develop any sort of empathy for Hannah's character. Wrong again. Almost instantaneously, viewers will feel bad for Batiatus, who, although deserving of respect, is treated almost like a serf.

Another pleasing return is Manu Bennett as Crixus. The first season takes this character from a glory-starved mad man into a rational lover. His love for the arena and war changes to a love for a woman. The audience will get to see how Crixus transforms from a barbaric thug into a battle-hardened warrior. This connection is vital to understanding the character, and it's wonderful that the writers will have a chance to show it fully instead of doing it halfheartedly in flashbacks.

Lastly, there are the new characters. Every addition to a series requires new blood and "Gods of the Arena" does not disappoint. The addition of Dustin Clare as the unbeatable Gannicus creates a new world of possibilities for the other characters. All the audience knows of this character is that he is not around when Sparticus comes into the series. This makes it easy to ignore attachments to Gannicus and simply sit back and enjoy how he affects the other characters.

As was made famous by its predecessor, "Gods of the Arena" is chock full of gore and nudity. This will turn off some viewers, but for those who thoroughly enjoyed the first season of this series, "Gods of the Arena" offers a new barrel of naked, bloody fun.