It’s been a long road from the first season of the Starz original series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, to its second season, Spartacus: Vengeance. A road that saw its very popular star, Andy Whitfield, diagnosed with cancer, his eventual replacement with Liam McIntyre, and, ultimately, his heartbreaking death this past September.

A short prequel season, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, was produced while these devastating events put the show’s production on hold, but come January 27th Season 2 will finally arrive.

Even better, it appears that Starz has every intention of jumping right on season 3 of the show. It’s been announced that a third season has already been ordered (season 2 was ordered before the first season debuted as well), and that production will hopefully start in early 2012.

Executive producer Rob Tapert said of the announcement “Many surprises are in store for Vengeance viewers this year, but rest assured the multi-layered plot and richly developed characters will continue to be a trademark of this series.”

[Source: Deadline]