EXCLUSIVE: Lucy Lawless‘ big return as Lucretia to the “Spartacus” Universe in House of Ashur has been revealed in a video clip above. Additionally, creator Steven S. DeKnight shares insight into the history-shaking event that sees Ashur (Nick E. Tarabay) reanimated and with a second chance at life, ahead of the show’s two-episode Starz premiere on December 5.

The clip shows Lucretia reconnecting with Ashur in the Underworld. She’s a little worse for wear, as one might expect, and she’s carrying a baby in her arms. She wasn’t a mother during her lifetime, as much as she had wanted to be, but in death, she holds Ilithyia’s (Viva Bianca) baby.

Lucretia and Ashur share a long history together and a tumultuous one at that. Sometimes, their survival depended on one another, and at different times, it was a cat vs. mouse type of relationship, seeing who could kill or hurt the other first.

Alas, the gods have seen fit to reunite Lucretia and Ashur in the afterlife in the Starz spinoff series. Ashur is thrown for a loop over the meeting, shaken, even, unsure what plans Lucretia has for him this time. She tells them she’s changing the course of the events at the end of his life. Instead of being decapitated by Naevia, as his life ended initially, he survives and kills Spartacus, earning the patronage of Crassus (Simon Merrells). The new timeline follows these events.

DeKnight expands on what is shown in the video and answers questions about the how and the why below.

DEADLINE: In the first four minutes of House of Ashur, Lucretia says, “Fates weave many threads.” Did these four words create the possibility for this spin-off series?

STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT: Yes, that goes back to the concept when I was in the Season 1 writers’ room, well, actually, going back to the original series. We were doing Spartacus: War of the Damned. Ashur had gotten his head chopped off by Naevia the previous season [Vengeance]. So, whenever we would have problems in the writer’s room that we had a hard time solving, we would joke, “Man, we should have done House of Ashur. That was a really cool idea. Wouldn’t that be a lot more fun?” It just became this running thing.

When I was revisiting the show, we’d also talked about doing Julius Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey. We talked about Anthony and Cleopatra and a lot of other things. But I kept coming back to the idea of going back to the roots of the first two seasons, Blood and Sand and Gods of the Arena, where it was much more contained. You had the upstairs-downstairs. So, I asked myself, “Well, why not?” But I needed a way in.

DEADLINE: And that way in was through Lucretia.

DEKNIGHT: Yes, the way in was through Lucy as Lucretia, who went over that cliff with the baby that she stole from Ilithyia. We can start in the Underworld when Ashur has just died, and Lucretia is there and says, “You know, there are many paths. Your death on Vesuvius was one of them, and would you like to see another? Would you like to live another life and see what would have happened and what kind of man you would have become?” That was really the impetus for the series.

DEADLINE: What was it like for you to see Lucy back in character after all these years?

DEKNIGHT: She’s a pro, you know? She’s Lucy Lawless. I still pinch myself that I got to work with her the first time around. I’m such a big fan. And, yeah, she just stepped right back into it. She was fantastic. She and Nick always had a great working relationship. I feel that anybody else except Lucy Lawless as Lucretia would just not have felt right. It was just a perfect way to start a new series and tip our hat to the original.

DEADLINE: With this new opportunity at life that has been given to Ashur, will he strive to be a better person, or will he continue to be the same Ashur?

DEKNIGHT: That’s the question: can he change, or is he locked into his fate? I know the answer to that, because I know how the series ends. [Laughs] I’m not going to say, but for me, that’s the really interesting part. That’s what I loved about watching The Sopranos and Breaking Bad. Can they overcome what’s inside them and be a better person? To me, that’s fertile ground. Fans have asked me why I’m doing a series on the character they hate the most, and whether I’m expecting them to root for Ashur. I always ask, “Did you root for Batiatus? He was a horrible man who murdered Spartacus’ wife. He ordered the murders of men, women, and children, yet people still cheered for him.”

DEADLINE: We only see Lucretia for a brief moment, but she doesn’t explain why she’s giving Ashur a second chance. What can you share?

DEKNIGHT: The question here is whether this second chance is a gift or a curse? Is she giving him something to benefit him or something that will torture him? You’ve got to watch the series to see how that plays out.

DEADLINE: We’re less than a month away from the premiere of Spartacus: House of Ashur. For anyone who hasn’t watched the original or is looking to re-watch, what order do you suggest they tackle the series?

DEKNIGHT: Absolutely in the original order. Even though Gods of the Arena is a prequel, don’t watch it first, because it gives away the ending of Season 1, Blood and Sand, and you’ll be robbed of that surprise. Also, if you watch it in the order it aired, it’ll be a richer experience. You go back and you see how these characters became who they are, which is much better than starting at the very beginning. So I would say, yes, Blood and Sand, first, Gods of the Arena, second, then Vengeance and War of the Damned.

DEADLINE: I know the episodes haven’t aired yet, but are you already thinking of a possible Season 2?

DEKNIGHT: I can tell you we’ve already written Season 2. We are ready to go if it’s a success.