Sad about Whitfield. Guy was gypped to die of cancer so young. I don't think a change in the lead will lose my interest unless the new guy is just awful or something. It's not like it's a complex role requiring amazing acting range.
The show is pretty cool. I'm partial to historical fiction though and I love the Spartacus tale because there's just enough known and enough not known that you can really be creative while not raping history. The slave uprising was fun, but the WAR is what I've been waiting for.
Anyway, I wish they'd lose all that CGI blood. It looks terrible.