The second season of “Spartacus” doesn’t debut until January 27th, but Starz announced today that the show has already been renewed for a third season (the six-episode “Gods of the Arena” prequel isn’t counted as a season). It seems to be a preemptive vote of confidence for new series star Liam McIntyre, who replaced Andy Whitfield in the title role after Whitfield left the show to die from cancer. Bummer.

Embedded below is an early look at Season 2, subtitled “Vengeance,” in which the producers and actors talk about, like, vengeance and slaves and Rome and stuff. It was pretty boring to me, because I was just trying to get screencaps of any possible sex scenes, but none ever appeared on-screen. It was all just a bunch of mostly naked ripped dudes looking at each other before they finally engaged in a little swordplay, which sounds only slightly gayer than it actually is.

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Andy Whitfield, the original star of Starz’s surprise hit “Spartacus,” died yesterday at the age of 39 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was ripped.

The Wales native was diagnosed 18 months ago while preparing for the second season of Spartacus. Though he was an relative unknown when the show started, Whitfield’s performance was so strong and iconic that production on season two was halted for about a year in an attempt to give Whitfield time to recover from the disease. During that time, producers shot a prequel series titled Gods of the Arena without the actor. Briefly it seemed Whitfield would make it — he was cleared to start work on season two and made a triumphant return appearance at Comic-Con. But Whitfield soon relapsed. Faced with the decision of either cancelling the series or recasting, Starz and producers opted to hire newcomer Liam McIntyre for the lead role, with Whitfield’s blessing. [EW]

Whitfield is survived by his wife and two children. Man, cancer’s a real assh*le. Go after old people and smokers, cancer. Leave us attractive people with great bodies alone.

"I'm here for the gang bang?"

UPDATE: Both trailers embedded below now.

We’ve got two new trailers from Starz today: the second trailer for Season 2 of “Spartacus” (debuting January 21st) and the first trailer for “Camelot” (April 1st). And judging by all the sex in these trailers (watch below), Starz will be the #1 source for ancient humping on television. Of course, Starz’s versions of ancient Rome and the Middle Ages have modern depilatory methods, probably because greased-up gladiators don’t look as good with back hair. Not that I’m complaining. I’m tuning in with the hopes of seeing Eva Green’s tits, I don’t want that image ruined by armpit hair.

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Below is the trailer for the prequel miniseries “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.” In case you haven’t been following the show’s off-screen troubles, the miniseries is a prequel to Season 1 due to star Andy Whitfield’s battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. (Whitfield finished treatment and was supposed to return to the set before the disease returned. Now Starz is recasting the title role.)

Anyhoo, the miniseries looks exactly like Season 1: a whole bunch of dudes who don’t eat carbohydrates in a mash-up of Gladiator and 300, with all the nudity you demand of your premium cable package. Starz is like, “Hey baby, I got your premium cable package RIGHT HERE.” And then they show some dong.

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If you haven’t already figured it out from the banner picture, the video below (via BWE) is my favorite “Today Show” clip since drunk Ewoks break danced, leg-humped, and fought each other on live TV. This is Burrito, and although he’s not very good at golf, I love him because he at least dresses the part. Where did his owner find such tiny golf clubs? I don’t care: all that matters is that he has them.

You know, I sometimes worry that this blog, which is supposed to be about television, is perhaps a little too overrun with cats and dogs wearing clothes. But then I take a look at the industry news, and it’s all, “Production has halted on ‘Spartacus’ because the guy who plays Spartacus has cancer.” Total downer, right? Even though it’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is barely cancer, it’s still sad. I hate to see anything put a stop to the filming of Lucy Lawless nude scenes.

Anyway, the point is, hee hee! That little dog is golfing!

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