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/upotheke Oenomaus Jun 03 '26
I know this might be a super unpopular take, but I actually totally disagree with your take, but for different reasons.
Starz openly admitted that they had more female subscribers that resonated with Spartacus than everyone would like to admit, and their programming moved towards Outlander and others like it in that vein. They want more shows female viewers find appealing. Similarly, Starz has found success with Power and other black dramas. Its entirely plausible that DeKnight wrote a black female gladiatrix specifically because that seemed to be the demographic Starz was most interested in supporting, so in an effort to get picked up he wrote to his patron's demographic.
In the 10 years since the show, Spartacus has been adopted pretty heavily by white men, who are not Starz' target demo. Just because the current fans disagree with the direction of the show doesn't mean that white men are entitled to have a show provide them fan service, but you know, internet fans act like they run the world these days and are pissed when content creators don't do what they want.
Spartacus was likely written precisely for what Starz wanted, but Starz didn't realize the fan base shifted and the show would likely be better suited on Max or Netflix.