Andy Whitfield at the Spartacus: Blood and Sand Press Conference at The Four Seasons Hotel on July 21 in Beverly Hills, California. (WireImage)

Australian actor Andy Whitfield died on Sunday after a recurrence of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He was 39.

Blast reported almost exactly a year ago that Whitfield would leave the his show, the Starz series “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” before the second season after his cancer returned.

He underwent an aggressive treatment last year and had been out of the public eye for much of the past 13 months.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Andy Whitfield,” said Starz President and CEO Chris Albrecht in a statement.

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Netflix stock dropped almost 9 percent on Friday after an announcement that the company will not renew its deal with Starz Entertainment, which supplies content from Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures, according to the LA Times Blog.

This means that movies from these companies will not be available on the online video site once the agreement expires in February.

Although some on Wall Street are skeptical about Netflix’s future, others feel that Netflix must simply fill the void with different content.

“Netflix now has six months to find content to fill the potential void and we view the lowered valuation as very compelling,” said Ingrid Chung of Goldman Sachs, reports the LA Times Blog.

“We believe Netflix has a clear indication for what content is worth and the fact that it is willing to let Starz expire suggests to us the company is staying disciplined,” said Anthony DiClemente of Barclays Capital.

Others feel that subscirbers will be turned off at the loss of movies such as  “Tangled” and “The Karate Kid.”

“Disney and Sony movies are a cut above the standard Netflix streaming…. Netflix appears to be moving toward lesser-known, older content while raising prices… [which] risks dampening domestic subscriber growth,” Barton Crockett of Lazard Capital Markets said according to the LA Times Blog.

Andy Whitfield at the Spartacus: Blood and Sand Press Conference at The Four Seasons Hotel on July 21 in Beverly Hills, California. (WireImage)

Series lead Andy Whitfield will not return to the Starz series “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” for the show’s second season because of a recurrence of cancer.

Whitfield has battled non-Hodkin’s lymphoma, and the recurrence will require aggressive treatment, Starz said in a statement.

“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,” said the 36-year-old Australian actor in a statement. “It seems that it is time for myself and my family to embark on another extraordinary journey.”

The story broke in March that the actor was diagnosed.

Only two shows of note tonight: “Crash” premieres on Starz at 10, and “Eureka’s” finale is on SyFy (still not used to spelling it that way) at 9.

On Sunday, HBO restarts “Curb Your Enthusiasm” at 9 p.m. The popular show from the “Seinfeld” people is back. CBS is also airing the Emmy Awards at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Spike TV’s 10th season premiere of “The Ultimate Fighter” on Wednesday is the most watched episode of the fighting series ever, and the most watched original show ever on the Spike TV Network, drawing g4.1 million total viewers — almost wholly male, according to Nielsen.

The History Channel had some success with its “MysteryQuest” series, which also premiered Wednesday, drawing 1.2 million watchers.

Video games today hardly feature the playable game exclusively; instead, additional attachments to the experience are popping up left and right promising bonus content not available in the game itself.

So it is not surprising that Electronic Arts and Starz Media’s Film Roman today announced that a feature-length animated film based on the epic Dante’s Inferno is currently in development and will ship alongside the game’s release later this year.

EA are taking a unique step in the development process as they are hiring multiple studios to work to create a dynamic and distinctive take on the various stages of hell in which Inferno is set.

Film Roman’s Joe Goyette (“Dead Space: Downfall”) is the producer on the project, Victor Cook (“The Spectacular Spider-Man,” “Hellboy Animated: Blood & Iron”) is directing and Brandon Auman (“Iron Man: Armored Adventures”) is writing.

“The animated feature will be a great companion piece to the game,” said Jonathan Knight, Executive Producer and Creative Director for Dante’s Inferno. “The feature will explore aspects of the poem that the game does not, and will provide more insight into the characters and the unique story adaptation that the game has established. It’s a very cool project, and we are having a blast collaborating with the talented team that Starz has assembled.”

Dead Space Downfall, a prequel to the ambitious video game was a hit in terms of worldwide sales and earned the fanboys’ respect, so great things can be expected of EA and Starz this time around with the larger-than-life Dante’s Inferno story to tell.

Head on over to the Dante’s Inferno official site for more details on the game.

In what is being viewed as a giant step in the acceptance of games by other media, Electronic Arts and Starz Media have announced that they will team up to create an animated prequel to the upcoming survival horror game Dead Space.

The movie, being developed by Film Roman — also behind the animation on the Simpsons and King of the Hill — is expected to be released before the game comes out on Halloween.

“We are really excited to be working with Film Roman to create an animated feature that will tell the portion of the Dead Space saga between the comic and game,” said Glen Schofield, Executive Producer for Dead Space. “With the video game, comic book and now animated movie, Dead Space has become a true multimedia brand. Each of these elements delivers the story to new audiences and tells it from different aspects and perspectives.”

The script for the Dead Space animated movie, focusing on the events of an alien infected, futuristic mining ship, picks up where the comic book left off and leads directly to the beginning of the game.

“Due to the richness and complexity of stories that have evolved for video games, they have become a type of entertainment that can span generations and provide fantastic inspiration for other forms of media; especially in the realm of animated features,” Film Roman President and COO Scott Greenberg said. “We’re particularly thrilled to be starting off with Dead Space.”

Dead Space, which will be the first of at least three features based on EA titles, will first air on the Starz network, then be released via DVD and digital distribution.