Graham McTavish, one of the stars of Starz’s Spartacus: House of Ashur, is very interested in seeing how audiences react to a world in which Ashur is no longer just a villain.

Spartacus: House of Ashur takes place in a reality in which Ashur (Nick E. Tarabay) didn’t die in the original 2010 series. Instead, we get to see what his life could have been like if he survived and continued his journey in the world of gladiators. McTavish, who plays gladiator trainer Korris, said that this season will test what fans think they know about Ashur.

“[Series creator Stephen S. DeKnight] answers the question by exploring it with Ashur, and he very deliberately takes a character that was a villain in the previous [series] and is making him into a hero, or trying to make him into a hero. And how do you do that? How do you make an audience care about this guy who is the classic anti-hero?” said McTavish.

Graham McTavish calls his character ‘cunning,’ ‘manipulative’ and ‘deceptive’

“He’s cunning, manipulative, deceptive, all of these sort of things, ruthlessly ambitious, and yet we love him,” McTavish continued. “We want to see Korris and Ashur succeed. And that’s the real genius of what Steven’s done, because [in] Spartacus, which I loved, Spartacus was a hero. He was a good man and, uh, loved his wife. [He] fought for freedom. But this is a whole different world, and I think that’s really interesting.”

McTavish said his character is complex in that he’s not one who easily finds community, but he still manages to create friendships that impact him.

“I think people like Korris, their background, their backstory is one of survival and against all odds,” he said. “So to even be in the position that he is a free man, having started as a slave, winning that freedom through dozens and dozens of fights that he had to win, it makes him a very particular kind of guy.”

“[He’s] not a man that is given to making friends easily, because the chances are those friends will be dead the next day. They’re just not people that stick around,” he continued. “But from a character point of view, what happens with Korris is that that changes over time, that certain things happen. He meets certain people, Ashur being one of them, [and] Achilla [played by Tenika Davis], and… that hard exterior is softened and another character is revealed underneath. And that’s what’s particularly appealing about the show from my point of view.”

Spartacus: House of Ashur is now airing on Starz.