'Spartacus: Blood and Sand's' Ande Cunningham on the rigorous training, what's next

Ande Cunningham's Duro, the younger of the two German Brothers, was a casualty of the first season of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" (though he says he'd love to come back for the prequel). But that doesn't mean he didn't go down fighting. And that fighting took a lot of training.

"We were there for weeks, training our muscles, agility, acrobat-style stuff," the Aussie star tells Zap2it. "Lots of rolling and falling and jumping and hand-stands and stuff like that. For hours in the afternoons we'd train sword fighting. Not modern-day fencing, but it was a brutal slashing, stabbing kind of training."

The very first fight Cunningham filmed was with Manu Bennett, who plays the top Gladiator and former Champion of Capua Crixus. "He came at me like a freight train and I was just trying to dodge his blows," Cunningham says of Bennett. "There were a few busted knuckles and some bruises here and there, but generally it was very safe and the choreography was closely watched."

"We really had to be trained meticulously," Cunningham continues. "You had to know the fights so incredibly well because when you're in the moment and screaming at each other, you have to be accurate not only with where the blows go but the exact angle. The swords weren't soft, I gotta say."

We asked Ande what's next for him, barring a character in the "Spartacus" prequel, and he tells us, "I'm just waiting for the next offer and seeing what comes up. I'm back here in Australia working on a documentary on factory farm animal cruelty and also working with my band. Yeah, just keeping in contact with you guys over there, my representation Los Angeles."

We hope to see him back on our U.S. television sets soon.

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Related:

'Spartacus' Ande Cunningham on prequel: 'I'd love to go back'
'Spartacus' Season 2 postponed, prequel in the works
'Spartacus: Blood and Sand' review: Bloody sexy gladiator drama

Photo Credit: Starz