Spartacus Star Andy Whitfield Dies at 37-TVLine

Andy Whitfield, the original star of Starz’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand period drama, died on Sunday of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He was 37.


In a statement cited by the Associated Press, Whitfield’s wife Vashti said that her husband, a “beautiful young warrior,” passed away on a “sunny Sydney morning” in the “arms of his loving wife.”

The Welsh-born Whitfield was first diagnosed with treatable Stage 1 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in early March of 2010. He was declared cancer-free two months later, after completing his original treatment therapy.

In July 2010, at the Spartacus panel at the San Diego Comic-Con (see photo above), Whitfield appeared and said, “I feel better than ever…. Like, seriously, I feel like I’m 10 years younger. I had a good rest.”

To accommodate the actor’s original unavailability, Starz halted production on the original Spartacus and fast-tracked a six-episode prequel series titled Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

But come September 2010, Starz announced that Whitfield would not be returning for the original series’ second season after all, so that he could pursue “aggressive treatment” for a recurrence of his cancer.

In January of this year, Aussie actor Liam McIntyre (HBO’s The Pacific) was chosen to assume the title role in what is now titled Spartacus: Vengeance — with his predecessor’s OK. “Andy did call up the [producers] and said, ‘I do want the show to continue.’ He gave his blessing,” McIntyre shared at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con. Filling Whitfield’s sandals, he added, was “a great privilege and a great honor.”

This article was written by Matt Webb Mitovich.

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