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"Starz president Chris Albrecht has defended the decision to axe Spartacus. It was announced in June that the popular drama&amp;#039;s third season - subtitled War of the Damned - will be its last.  Speaking at the TCA press tour, Albrecht said: &amp;quot;The show has been remarkably successful and, ultimately, what all of the producers felt, along with us, was that, rather than trying to string out a story and have one more battle, or one more argument between the rebels, or one more villain show up, we would follow the trajectory of the history and bring the Spartacus story to fruition. &amp;quot;It was better to leave people wanting more than to risk repeating ourselves and diminishing the overall impact of the franchise.&amp;quot; &amp;gt; Spartacus creator on season three: &amp;#039;It&amp;#039;s going to get very dirty&amp;#039; &amp;gt; Spartacus Andy Whitfield documentary hits target budget Albrecht added that ending Spartacus was a &amp;quot;very difficult decision&amp;quot; but one that ultimately benefits the series, Collider reports. &amp;quot;I joined Starz when we were editing the first season of the show,&amp;quot; he explained. &amp;quot;And I think the producers and those of us at Starz were always well aware that this was going to be a very different show once the rebels were in the hills and the Romans were in the town.  &amp;quot;How do you get the protagonists and antagonists together, in the same space, without somebody having to die? So, we ended up having to tell two distinct stories, which is never the ultimate way to create a great serialized drama.&amp;quot; Spartacus stars Liam McIntyre as the iconic warrior - the Australian actor having assumed the role from the late Andy Whitfield following the show&amp;#039;s first season. War of the Damned will air on Starz in the US and Sky1 in the UK in early 2013. Watch a teaser for Spartacus: War of the Damned below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a397643/spartacus-axe-defended-by-starz-boss-we-risk-repeating-ourselves/>