'Spartacus: Vengeance's' Liam McIntyre: 'Makeup fixes everything'

Zap2it: You had to prove you could bulk up just to get this job. How is the workout going now that you're shooting the final season, "War of the Damned"?

Liam McIntyre: Oh, it's endless. The result is that I was too scared to stop doing anything in the off-season. I was like, "Maybe I'll wake up one day, and it'll have all gone back [to the way it was], and it'll be a dream." So I didn't really stop. But I'm feeling a little more comfortable. I'm getting used to it all and this new person I've apparently created. But it's no easier. The only way you know you're doing it right is it gets harder every time.

Zap2it: Your costumes are rather skimpy, and you're doing a lot of fighting and falling down. How do you avoid road rash?

Liam McIntyre: There's a bit of that, but makeup fixes everything. They look after you really well. They build whole floors that are padded, but you can't tell. I guess it's like wrestling; you fall on a big padded mat, while it looks like youʼre falling on hard concrete. While that most of the time works, it does rely on you hitting the soft, padded part, not the hard, concrete part, which I've done on a few occasions.

Zap2it: What did you like about playing Spartacus in Season 4?

Liam McIntyre: In "Vengeance," I enjoyed exploring the idea that this is a guy who doesn't necessarily want to be a leader of men, but thatʼs his part. He has to find a way to be OK with that.