Lawless, Whitfield in Sam Raimi’s Spartacus

She keeps trying to escape, but they keep pulling her back in! She being Lucy Lawless, and “in” being swords and sandals adventure TV shows. The latest news from the Sam Raimi-produced TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand has Lucy Lawless and Andy Whitfield joining the show, Lawless in a supporting role, while Whitfield will play the titular character.

Variety says the New Zealand actress, most recently seen as a Cylon on the revamped (but now defunct) Battlestar Galactica TV show, will be playing the owner of a camp that trains gladiators. One of which will be Australian actor Andy Whitfield’s Spartacus.

Star Andy Whitfield (pictured, below) is mostly unknown in the States. He made his feature film debut in the sci-fi/fantasy movie “Gabriel”, and has a thriller called “The Clinic” coming out in 2009.

The show is set to start production this April for its premiere on the Starz Cable Channel in January 2010. Word is, it’s gonna be blood and guts and sex out the wazoo. Or at least as much “wazoo” as the Starz Channel can take.