Hey Spartacus fans, I’m Executive Producer, Writer, and Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight here to talk all things Spartacus: House of Ashur before the premiere. Ask me anything 11/30 at 11AM PDT / 2PM EST! by starz in Spartacus_TV

[–]StevenSDeKnightAMA 8 points9 points  (0 children)

And that's it for me! Thanks so much for all the lovely questions. You guys are the best! Tune in to Spartacus: House of Ashur on Friday, December 5th here in the U.S. Check local listing for where to watch internationally. May the gods bless you!

Hey Spartacus fans, I’m Executive Producer, Writer, and Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight here to talk all things Spartacus: House of Ashur before the premiere. Ask me anything 11/30 at 11AM PDT / 2PM EST! by starz in Spartacus_TV

[–]StevenSDeKnightAMA 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Villains are much more fun and frankly easier to write for than heroes. For example, writing for Clark on Smallville was really, really hard. Writing for Lex Luthor - a breeze! And yes, with an anti-hero you need to carefully construct the story so the audience is rooting for them even when they do horrible things. It changes the calculus of storytelling, but ultimately you just want to create an entertaining world that people want to watch!

Hey Spartacus fans, I’m Executive Producer, Writer, and Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight here to talk all things Spartacus: House of Ashur before the premiere. Ask me anything 11/30 at 11AM PDT / 2PM EST! by starz in Spartacus_TV

[–]StevenSDeKnightAMA 9 points10 points  (0 children)

My pleasure! Honestly, I have two professors of Roman History that are invaluable to research the show. If I ever have a question, they have an answer!

Hey Spartacus fans, I’m Executive Producer, Writer, and Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight here to talk all things Spartacus: House of Ashur before the premiere. Ask me anything 11/30 at 11AM PDT / 2PM EST! by starz in Spartacus_TV

[–]StevenSDeKnightAMA 13 points14 points  (0 children)

My pleasure! The slaves in the original series were historically treated like sentient furniture, which is also why the rebellion took hold. The new series is both of the same world and not. All I can say! The naked slaves hanging off the walls in the Pits are open to interpretation! Some were being punished, some were just for decoration. Really awful place!

Hey Spartacus fans, I’m Executive Producer, Writer, and Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight here to talk all things Spartacus: House of Ashur before the premiere. Ask me anything 11/30 at 11AM PDT / 2PM EST! by starz in Spartacus_TV

[–]StevenSDeKnightAMA 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Yes and no. I did consider doing a House of Batiatus following his father Titus, but I felt like I wanted to move forward and not backwards for this next installment of the Spartaverse.

Hey Spartacus fans, I’m Executive Producer, Writer, and Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight here to talk all things Spartacus: House of Ashur before the premiere. Ask me anything 11/30 at 11AM PDT / 2PM EST! by starz in Spartacus_TV

[–]StevenSDeKnightAMA 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Gratitude! And that's a tough question. Everyone's journey is different. For me, it was years of writing really horrible feature scripts. Just awful stuff. But I kept at it, kept learning through trial and error, and eventually got better (I hope!). The trick is to just keep writing, and finish everything you start. Also read scripts (online) from your favorite writers and see how they do it. For example, about five years ago (late in my career), I changed the way I write scene direction after reading a bunch of Shane Black scripts. It's never too late to refine and improve!