TV Rewind: 10 Years Later, Spartacus’ Epic Finale Still Feels Revolutionary

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our TV Rewind column! The Paste writers are diving into the streaming catalogue to discuss some of our favorite classic series as well as great shows we’re watching for the first time. Come relive your TV past with us, or discover what should be your next binge watch below:

The problem with series finales is that you only get to do them once. If your final episode isn’t successful, you risk not only your fanbase turning on you, but the show’s legacy crumbling under the weight of a lackluster ending. Many series unfortunately don’t get it right, whether that is due to the pressures finales have to live up to or creators becoming bored with the work they once loved. Series finales have always been hard to get right, but there’s one show that did: Starz’s Spartacus. 

Before Black Sails and The Last Kingdom, Spartacus nearly rivaled the popularity of HBO’s Game Of Thrones. While it wasn’t fantasy, something about Starz’s take on the legendary figure felt magical. Perhaps it was the historical setting of the Roman Republic, or maybe it was the lavish costumes and gorgeously dyed wigs. Now, over 10 years since the show’s series finale, it feels almost like a product of its time—slow motion fight scenes are hard to watch without cringing, and there aren’t nearly enough prominent female characters as the seasons go on—but there is still a part of the series that feels revolutionary. 

After two main seasons and a 6-episode prequel, the show finally came to an end with Season 3 titled Spartacus: War of the Damned in 2013. I remember watching the final season each week with my grandmother, wondering if it would be able to successfully wrap up all its loose ends, and give its characters a successful send off. Would Starz partake in some history-revision and let the titular character live? Would the Spartan army somehow make it out with no casualties? As I watched the final episode unfold, it quickly became clear that this wasn’t the case. However, by the time it was over, I realized that this was the boldest—and perhaps only—choice the show could make if it wanted to stay true to its most important themes.

The massive battle in the show’s final episode, titled “Victory,” plays out extremely well. There are fireballs, traps, and of course, sword fighting. The most interesting aspect of this extravagant and epic ending is that most of the Spartans don’t necessarily go out in a blaze of glory. While yes, every death is felt and we’re given enough time to mourn each character, it’s clear that the creators wanted to make this as realistic as possible. It’s the antithesis of the highly anticipated battle in Game of Thrones’ “The Long Night,” where almost every main character survives a horde of ice zombies because by Season 8, nearly everyone was shackled down by the weight of plot armor. The series was unwilling to sacrifice anyone in service of the larger plot, and it massively backfired. 

Here though, our main characters are simply outnumbered and overwhelmed. They go down fighting to the last man, proving that their lives weren’t in vain, because in the end, Spartacus was always about showcasing a man’s pursuit for freedom rather than a showcase of spectacle. It is the perfect end not only for the show, but its titular character (played by Liam McIntyre) as well. Spartacus is a man whose wife was killed in slavery, collar still clasped around her neck as she bled out in his arms. From then, he vowed not only for revenge, but to become a breaker of chains himself. While he lays upon the ground in the series finale, bested and beaten by a litany of soldiers, there’s a calmness to him. He knows that because of him, hundreds and thousands of slaves were freed and simultaneously died for his cause, and after he shuts his eyes, hundreds more will walk past him into the unknown. They will be mourning, yes, but they will in turn be free. 

Two of those characters who live to gain true freedom are Agron (Daniel Feuerriegel) and Nasir (Pana Hema-Taylor), the series’ most prominent gay couple. Despite the unwavering bloodshed, the season finale does a complete reversal of the “bury your gays” trope—they are the only two main characters to survive the show’s run. They say farewell to Spartacus as he dies, before finally joining each other and walking into freedom, lit by a backdrop of gold and yellow hues. It’s shocking enough now to think of a queer couple making it through a show like this unscathed, but back in 2013, it was almost unthinkable. Allowing Agron and Nasir a happy ending felt revolutionary back then, my 15-year-old self hardly able to grasp the concept of a gay couple not only surviving such a violent series, but gaining their freedom in the process.

This is precisely why “Victory” continues to feel like one of the few finales that understands the weight of its own legacy. It treats every hero with an amount of dignity uncommonly found in a story like this. Each character gets their shining moment—from looking up to the skies at invisible loved ones as they perish, to going out swinging while simultaneously being lit ablaze. Spartacus feels rare even now, in the way that its creators and writers treat their characters throughout the series. There’s a special kind of care in Spartacus that is almost unheard of within its subgenre, shelving the plot twists and instead allowing these characters a worthy send-off, never undercut by their predestination. 

As the episode comes to a close, the end credits pass by in a montage, showcasing each and every main and supporting character who graced the series over its three-year run. It’s here where my teenage self truly began to understand that I was witnessing something different. The characters in Spartacus never died simply for shock value, but rather to showcase to viewers that, while life is short, these people died for their cause. Their memories continued to be carried on throughout later episodes and seasons, and the end credits of the series solidifies that the creators loved these characters (and the actors that played them), too. 

It is with these final moments that Spartacus truly became legendary, honoring each and every person whose face once graced our screens. Finally, the montage ends with a shot of Andy Whitfield, the actor who played the titular character in Season 1, before tragically passing away from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. As we are reunited with his face, eyes open and chest gleaming with sweat, we’re allowed to celebrate the man who started it all. He exists in every piece of the series despite being recast, his presence as an actor filled with so much compassion and grace it rivaled McIntyre’s glorious performance after it. Right before the screen cuts to black, the character audiences first fell in love with lets out his iconic cry of “I am Spartacus!” And in this final moment and memory, Spartacus’ series finale proved itself as one of the most poignant endings in television history.

Watch on Starz

Kaiya Shunyata is a freelance pop culture writer and academic based in Toronto. They have written for Rogerebert.com, Xtra, The Daily Dot, and more. You can follow them on Twitter, where they gab about film, queer subtext, and television.

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