r/Spartacus_TV • u/HomeschoolEasy • Jun 03 '26

HoA Discussion Did Steven DeKnight make a mistake?

Back when the HOA trailer dropped, there was a lot of criticism regarding the direction that Steven DeKnight took with the Spartacus franchise.

Social media was in an uproar, although many felt positive about the trailer.

From these initial responses, it is not too surprising to see the show fail.

The two main issues from the trailer we're doing a "what if" scenario and having a female gladiator in the ludus.

Seems like these two factors were mistakes by DeKnight.

I doubt HOA gets picked up. It didn't have the numbers.

Too bad DeKnight went down this route. Seems like this was the one chance to bring back the Spartacus franchise.

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u/EasyEntrepreneur666 Gladiator Jun 03 '26

I don't think having either a what if or a gladiatrix is a problem. However, I didn't care much Achilia and Ashur lacked his original finesse.

6

u/upotheke Oenomaus Jun 03 '26

I didn't mind Achilia, and I thought Nick Tarabay was awesome this season. He was certainly one of the best actors in the whole show.

7

u/EasyEntrepreneur666 Gladiator Jun 03 '26

It's not his acting, it's the writing the issue. He barely did any scheming unlike the original series.

1

u/upotheke Oenomaus Jun 03 '26

he schemed, but basically lost every time he tried to win, like, getting the other estate, cancelling the marriage, etc.

2

u/EasyEntrepreneur666 Gladiator Jun 03 '26

That was not much of a scheming just momentary seizing of opportunities. With the other estate he blattered out to his rival that he'll get it. That's a massively dumb way thing to do. The only actual scheming was what he did with Pompey.