Sarz has announced that its gladiatorial series Spartacus will come to its conclusion with its third season, Spartacus: War of the Damned, which will premiere on Friday, January 25th 2013 at 9pm.  Spartacus fashioned itself initially as a kind of response to HBO’s great but gone-too-soon series Rome, also piggybacking on the popularity of 300, but distinguished itself for being particularly violent, with lots of explicit sexual content.

Aside from having to establish itself among a bevy of currently running period dramas, the series faced difficulties during its first season when its star Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which lead Starz to produce a prequel mini-series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.  Liam McIntyre then replaced Whitfield for the following season, Spartacus: Vengeance, and will finish out the series’ run.  Hit the jump for more on Spartacus, including a sneak peek video of War of the Damned.

The third season of Spartacus is rounding up some new cast members to play a couple iconic figures in Roman history. Starz has just revealed in a press release that Todd Lasance (Cloudstreet) and Simon Merrells (The Wolfman) have landed the roles of Julius Caesar and Marcus Crassus respectively. Lasance’s version of Caesar is a handsome young rogue from an esteemed lineage and his deadly intelligence and skill with a sword will be brought to bear against the rebellion as he begins his ascent towards the all-powerful ruler he will one day become. Meanwhile, Merrells’ Crassus is the richest man in the Roman Republic. Envied and despised by the highborn among the senate, he craves the power and respect that defeating Spartacus and his rebel army would bring.

The two join Liam McIntyre in the third season of the cable series which hasn’t yet been given a proper subtitle like the others. Stay tuned as more information becomes available. Hit the jump to read the full press release.