Photo: Matt Klitscher
Rome wasn't built in a day, but for over a year the Roman Republic was temporarily constructed in a South Auckland film studio.
Spartacus: House of Ashur has just hit screens in New Zealand and around the world, and is receiving rave reviews.
The series resurrects a character, Ashur, from the previous Spartacus series, and puts him in an alternate timeline in which he wasn't killed on Mount Vesuvius.
Like the previous series, Spartacus: House of Ashur was filmed in New Zealand - Wiri's X3 studios - at 11,725m it's one of the biggest creative spaces in the country.
At its peak it employed 490 full-time crew and 399 casual crew, with Kiwis making up 60 percent of the ensemble cast.
So what does it take to pull a production like this together and why film in New Zealand? Spartacus: House of Ashur executive producer Rick Jacobson joins Kathryn.
Spartacus: House of Ashur is streaming on the Three Now app.
