Steven S. DeKnight (born October 28, 1965) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is best known for being the creator, head writer, and executive producer of the Starz series Spartacus, including Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Spartacus: Vengeance, and Spartacus: War of the Damned, as well as developing the first season of Marvel's Daredevil and Jupiter's Legacy for Netflix. DeKnight previously worked on  Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel. He also wrote "Swell", a story in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight comic series. He served as a consulting producer on Joss Whedon's television series Dollhouse. In May 2014, DeKnight reportedly took over show running duties for the first season of the Netflix exclusive television series Daredevil from Drew Goddard, after Goddard's departure due to scheduling conflicts with directing Sinister Six. Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez later replaced him to serve as co-showrunners for the series' second season. In 2015, DeKnight joined the Transformers Cinematic Universe franchise's writers room, where Paramount Pictures hired multiple noted screenwriters to flesh out the film series' future. He directed the science fiction sequel Pacific Rim Uprising. The original film's director, Guillermo del Toro, remained on the film as producer. On July 17, 2018, it was announced that DeKnight would be credited as a showrunner and executive producer alongside Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Dan McDermott in the superhero series Jupiter's Legacy. On September 16, 2019, it was confirmed that DeKnight departed the series as a showrunner over creative differences amid the first season's production. On April 15, 2019, DeKnight joined a host of other writers in firing their agents as part of the WGA's stand against the ATA and the practice of packaging. In November 2023, Starz greenlighted the new 10-episode drama series Spartacus: House of Ashur with the return of DeKnight to the franchise, serving as showrunner and executive producer. Description above from the Wikipedia article Steven S. DeKnight, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.