The Insider.com

Despite getting a knife to the gut in Spartacus: Blood & Sand's season finale, Lucy Lawless' lascivious Lucretia is back, for better or worse, in Spartacus: Vengeance -- which kicks off tonight on Starz.

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Roughly six weeks have passed since the events of that finale, but an entirely new Lucretia emerges in the episode as she doesn't retain a single stitch of her life. In other words, she's lost her mind. So part of the season two joy will stem from watching bits and pieces come back to her -- in obvious and subtle ways.

I caught up with Lucy to talk all about this exciting new season, what she's excited for fans to see and how the finale will make you view the entire series through new eyes!

Insider.com: The last time we saw Lucretia, she was all but dead. Did you think, "Ok, that's it for me -- thanks for a fun season!"
Lucy Lawless: I didn't know if that was her death, but I had a relaxation about it. If I didn't come back, I was fine with that because the work was good. I think it was a win-win either way, maybe that's why I felt so relaxed about it.

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Insider: Did you worry about making Lucretia's return believable?
Lucy: I come from the background of Xena, it doesn't have to make sense! [laughs]

Insider: The first episode reveals a very different Lucretia. What do you make of her?
Lucy: I don't have much experience with madness, but I do understand PTSD and I think that's what we'd diagnose her as having today – and justifiably so. She's lost her husband, the baby, the lover, the trust and had this terrible betrayal. When we find her, she's wearing her husband's gown and I truly believe that she loved him. Yes, she got a bit confused with the sex because women do confuse sex and love, but she did love her husband truly, madly, deeply.

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Insider: But in this culture, to be without a husband is tantamount to death, right?
Lucy: Yes. She's lost her place in society. She has nothing. She might as well sign on as the whorehouse down the road. What's interesting is that Lucretia gets used as proof that the Gods have blessed the Romans (like an anti-Spartacus totem) and when Lucretia sees her value to other people reflected back, she assumes that role effortlessly. She's like a child – she doesn't remember the past.

Insider: Because fans will wonder if she's faking the amnesia.
Lucy: People are going to make up their own minds, but I don't think she is. Although the Old Lucretia will slowly come back.

Insider: Will the people who prop up Lucretia end up regretting their decision in some sort of Palin-esque/going rogue kind of way?
Lucy: [laughs] I love that! Such a cool idea – except that women, unless they were high priestess or Madame pimp has no other career choices available. But she has other dreams for herself – and her future. And let me tell you, through all the trials and tribulations Lucretia goes through in season two, all her dreams do come true. I will say that Lucretia is a winner in the end.

Insider: What are you excited for fans to see this season?
Lucy: I'm really excited for fans to see somebody fall in love with her. I'm so proud of how that plays out. The course of true love never does run smooth – and that's never been truer than in this case. But in the end, it all comes right as far as she's concerned. Also, the finale will tie up a lot of loose ends in the most elegant of ways but I guarantee that as soon as you finish the episode, you'll want to watch the season all over again because it will make you say, "Why didn’t I see that coming?!?"

Spartacus: Vengeance airs Fridays at 10 p.m. on Starz.