I’m not too sure if anyone actually watched the premiere of the Crash TV series on Starz last week, and I haven’t read any reviews, but apparently Starz is already confident enough in what they’re doing to greenlight another original series based on a movie. This time, however, they’re taking a classic movie from 1960 and updating it for the video game generation. Spartacus will be a 13-episode series based on the historical story of the Roman gladiator who lead a slave uprising of over 120,000 men. The series will supposedly be one of the first TV shows shot in an “almost 100% virtual environment” — obviously because they are trying to replicate the hyper-real graphic novel look of 300 and Sin City.

The weird thing here is that the executive producers on the project are Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Joshua Donen. Raimi and Tapert have previously done such campy sword-and-sandals fare as Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, but this seems a little bit edgier than the stuff they’d normally be interested in. Perhaps Starz just wants to have their names on the project to sell it, but I’m not sure how involved they will be. Steven S. DeKnight (Smallville, Buffy The Vampire Slayer) will be taking on the task of head writer/showrunner. There is a part of me that is curious about this, as I really enjoyed HBO’s Rome, but something tells me that it will be all style and no substance. It will, however, probably match Rome as one of the most expensive TV shows ever made; they are expecting the budget to run nearly $2 million an episode.

On a related note, Raimi and Tapert have a new show premiering on ABC next month called Legend of the Seeker. The trailer embedded below may give some hint as to what Spartacus will look like as well.

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