Winter premiere and teaser for Spartacus: House of Ashur revealed

Starz gave a first look at the long-awaited spin-off Spartacus: House of Ashur during San Diego Comic-Con.Nick E. Tarabay returns as Ashur, the cunning former slave and gladiator from the original Spartacus series. The new series imagines an alternate reality: what if Ashur had survived—and been rewarded by the Romans with leadership of the gladiator school (ludus) where he once fought as a slave?

©The Hollywood Reporter - Starz/YouTube

Now, as owner of the ludus and a free man, Ashur must navigate the ruthless world of Roman politics, where betrayal is not condemned, but rather rewarded.

Ashur breaks with tradition by introducing Achillia, a powerful gladiatrix played by Tenika Davis, who demands her place in a male-dominated arena. Together, they create a new kind of bloody spectacle that shocks and challenges the Roman elite.

Besides Tarabay, other Spartacus veterans return. Steven S. DeKnight, creator of the original series, is back as producer, and Graham McTavish, Jamaica Vaughan, Jordi Webber, and Jaime Slater are among the cast.

Liam McIntyre (Spartacus in season three) moderated the panel and opened emotionally with a tribute to the original Spartacus, Andy Whitfield, who died in 2011 from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

DeKnight assured fans during the panel that House of Ashur will be just as sexy, brutal, and groundbreaking as the original—if not even more daring. He described the series as a "thrilling, erotic, history-bending rollercoaster" with plenty of action, intrigue, power struggles, and, of course, bloodshed.