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"Lucy Lawless has admitted that recasting the lead role in Spartacus: Blood And Sand was difficult. The show&amp;#039;s original star Andy Whitfield was forced to leave the series last year to receive treatment for a recurrence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Earlier this week, it emerged that Liam McIntyre has now signed up to take on the role. &amp;quot;This was not a decision we made lightly,&amp;quot; Lawless told the New York Post. &amp;quot;It hurt us to do it and Liam has some terribly big shoes to fill. We don&amp;#039;t expect him to be Andy, no-one could, but he&amp;#039;s going to be Liam. And we believe he&amp;#039;s the right guy to reimagine that role and keep this series on fire.&amp;quot; Lawless revealed that the casting directors saw &amp;quot;over 1000 people all over the world&amp;quot; but explained that McIntyre was the &amp;quot;best actor&amp;quot;. However, she added: &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;ve got to keep the love going for Andy. He is putting himself and his family first so he&amp;#039;ll live to fight another day!&amp;quot; Filming for the second season of Spartacus is expected to begin in April. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a298944/lawless-spartacus-recast-was-difficult/>