Spartacus: Blood and Sand Discussion!

Andy Whitfield, who plays the lead character in the series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, is leaving the show because of a recurrence of cancer.

"It's with a deep sense of disappointment that I must step aside from such an exceptional project as Spartacus and all the wonderful people involved," said the 36-year-old Australian actor in a statement.

"It seems that it is time for myself and my family to embark on another extraordinary journey."

Whitfield, who is married with two children, is battling a reappearance of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Work on the second season of the series was postponed in the spring when the Welsh-born Whitfield was first diagnosed. In June, the Starz network, which produces the gore-and-sex-filled series, announced the actor had responded well to treatment and was returning to work.

In light of Whitfield's departure, Starz said co-stars Lucy Lawless and John Hannah would be the focus of a six-episode prequel, airing in January.

In the series, the character of Spartacus is a soldier condemned to fight as a gladiator who ultimately leads a rebellion against the Romans. It's loosely based on the true story of a gladiator who led a slave uprising against the Romans in 73 BC.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2010/09/19/whitfield-cancer-spartacus.html#ixzz0zz96UlFb