A pay-cable channel has pulled the plug on a drama series, announcing the show won’t be back after its upcoming third season, TVLine.com reports.

The third season of "Spartacus" on Starz will mark the end of the show’s run, the story reports. Season three, "Spartacus: War of the Damned," is scheduled to air starting in January 2013.

In an interview with IGN, Steven S. DeKnight, the show’s creator, explained, “Starz always does the unexpected. This show has been challenged, to say the least, in many, many ways. We’ve faced many difficulties and tragedies on the show. My original plan was to attack the show in a five- to seven-season arc. Once we got into it and after Andy [Whitfield]’s passing and looking at the historical story of Spartacus, we came to the decision to basically end on a high note.

“We certainly could have continued for a few more seasons and stretched it out, but we really wanted to end high and not feel like we were treading water — and really just condense the rest of the history into one amazing ten-episode, badass final season.”

As for his feelings about the network, Knight said, "The whole show was a huge risk from the start for Starz, and it was another huge risk when I decided to try to keep the show going after Andy’s passing. Any normal studio would have just canceled the show at that point and not risk the financial downside of it not working. But Starz, thankfully, really stuck by the show, and they really wanted it to be told all the way to the end. They didn’t want to cheat the viewers and just suddenly pull the plug. … So they gave us this opportunity to wrap up the story, and we’re certainly taking that opportunity and running with it. This is by far the biggest season we’ve ever attempted.”