One Of The Best Comic Book Movie Directors Ever Helped Create Spartacus

Steven S. DeKnight‘s “Spartacus,” which aired on Starz from 2010 to 2013, brought the sword-and-sandal genre to the small screen with roaring success. The series starred Andy Whitfield and, following Whitfield’s death in 2011, Liam McIntyre as the titular Roman gladiator-turned-revolutionary in a gritty, R-rated take on his rise and fall. When Starz first announced plans for “Spartacus,” reports described the series as aiming for a graphic-novel-style aesthetic, drawing comparisons to Zack Snyder‘s comic book film “300.” What fans might not have been aware of, though, was that the series was produced by one of the most successful comic book movie directors of the early 2000s.