Originally had been planned as a single flashback episode for season 2. But it became a prequel mini-series instead.
"Gods of the Arena" takes place 5 years before "Blood and Sand".
Lucy Lawless and Jaimie Murray became very close friends during production.
Filming began in September 2010 and concluded on February 25 2011.
Although initially believed to focus primarily on how Crixus became Champion and how Quintus Batiatus became the owner of the Ludus, the Prequel is equally about Lucretia's dark transformation into the evil woman the audience knows in "Blood & Sand."