The Shrine

18 months after his cancer diagnosis, Whitfield died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma on 11 September 2011. The actor's manager, Sam Maydew, and Whitfield's wife, Vashti, issued a statement confirming his death in Sydney, Australia. He is survived by his wife and two children.

He was a relative unknown who, i thought, did a kickass job in the Spartacus show on Starz where he gained his worthy notoriety. Really tragic story for this guy... what will they do with the series?

I agree that he did a good job with season one, even at its weaker moments he was a strong actor. At Whitfield's request Starz replaced him. Season two will begin airing soon and they've already released a trailer with the new actor. The mini-season they did earlier was in response to the cancer coming back.

The new guy looks pretty similar and is basically unknown, as well.

New season premiered yesterday. New guy is good but it just isn't the same. Series still good enough for me to keep watching, though. Some of the dialog is painful to sit through, though.