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"The producer of Spartacus: Blood and Sand has revealed that he did not originally plan to include Lucy Lawless in the show&amp;#039;s upcoming second season. Steven S. DeKnight told reporters at the TCA press tour that he was determined to kill off her character Lucretia in the first season finale. Discussing the character&amp;#039;s prolonged life, he explained: &amp;quot;I said, &amp;#039;Absolutely not. No. She has to die. There is no way she could survive&amp;#039;. Then I called up [co-producer Rob Tapert] the next morning and I said, &amp;#039;I&amp;#039;ve got an idea that I really like for season two&amp;#039;.&amp;quot; The former Xena star will now reprise her role in the new run and also appears in prequel series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s been a thrill,&amp;quot; admitted DeKnight. &amp;quot;What we&amp;#039;ve planned for Lucretia in season two makes season one and the prequel pale in comparison.&amp;quot; The next season of Spartacus: Blood and Sand is expected to air in late 2011. Prequel series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena will debut on Starz on January 21. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a296985/spartacus-exec-reversed-lucretia-fate/>