"Spartacus" Star Whitfield Departs as Cancer Returns

The slave-turned-gladiator has met a foe he can't shake.

Starz series "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" will be without its star Andy Whitfield for the second season. He is leaving the show to undergo cancer treatments in what appears to be a recurrence of his disease.

"It's with a deep sense of disappointment that I must step aside from such an exceptional project as Spartacus and all the wonderful people involved," Whitfield said in a statement. "It seems that it is time for myself and my family to embark on another extraordinary journey."

Whitfield was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma last March. The cancer had appeared to be in remission until this recent news.

There's no word yet on the future of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," or Whitfield's place in it.