Former Home and Away star Jamaica Vaughan has landed a major role in Starz’s new Spartacus sequel series.
The actor, who previously played Naomi Stevens on the Australian soap, has been cast in Spartacus: House of Ashur alongside a star-studded ensemble, including Outlander actor Graham McTavish and Nick Tarabay, who is reprising his role as Ashur from the original series (via Deadline).
Rounding out the main cast is fellow former Home and Away actor Jordi Webber, as well as Ivana Baquero, Claudia Black, India Shaw-Smith, Leigh Gill and Tenika Davis.
Spartacus creator Steven S DeKnight is returning as showrunner and executive producer, 11 years after the original gladiator drama wrapped up after three seasons – subtitled Blood and Sand (2010), Vengeance (2012) and War of the Damned (2013) – and prequel chapter Gods of the Arena.
The next chapter has been described by Starz as a “history-bending, erotic, thrilling, roller-coaster experience that builds on everything that made the original series a colossal hit”.
The synopsis continues: “The series poses the question: what if Ashur, played by fan favorite Nick Tarabay, hadn’t died on Mount Vesuvius at the end of Spartacus: Vengeance? And what if he had been gifted the gladiator school once owned by Batiatus in return for aiding the Romans in killing Spartacus and putting an end to the slave rebellion?”
Vaughan is set to play Hilara, described as a “young, elevated house slave” who is in love with Ashur, while McTavish has been cast as a former gladiator named Korris, who “won his freedom in the arena and is now Ashur’s Doctore, training the gladiators in Ashur’s Ludus”.
Baquero will play Messia, a house slave in love with Hilara, Davis will take on the role of a female gladiator named Achillia, and Webber will star as a “brash and headstrong” gladiator named Tarchon.
Finally, Black’s character Cossutia is a politician determined to keep Ashur in his place, Shaw-Smith plays Cossutia’s daughter Viridia, and Gill has been cast as Satyrus, the leader of a rival group of gladiators.