Spike TV renews the multi-platform hit series DEADLIEST WARRIOR for a third season

History’s most lethal combatants will continue the fight for ultimate supremacy as Spike TV renews DEADLIEST WARRIOR, the network’s first original franchise hit, for a third season, it was announced today by Sharon Levy, executive vice president, original programming, Spike TV. The series has averaged 1.6 million viewers over it first two seasons, the most recent airing from April-July. The Season 2 finale on July 27 was the #2 ranked show on cable in its timeslot. The third season of DEADLIEST WARRIOR will premiere ten episodes in Summer 2011.

Richard “Mack” Machowicz, a Navy SEAL and former host and producer of FUTURE WEAPONS and WEAPONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, joins the cast for the new season. Mack brings a warrior’s perspective to this series, as well as a weapons and battle tactician’s expertise. Mack will provide viewers a richer understanding of the men behind the weapons and provide insight into the specific military strategies of all the featured warriors. His expertise with soldier craft and military hardware comes from his experience as a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Navy SEALs. During his service tenure, he participated in numerous tactical operations with SEAL Team ONE and TWO. While at SEAL Team TWO, he was attached to the training cadre as the Leading Petty Officer of Land, Mountain and Arctic Warfare. He also has over 30 years experience in the martial arts, studying such systems as muay thai boxing, Jeet Kune Do, kickboxing, aikido, jujitsu, savate, arnis and karate.

Mack joins series regulars Geoff Desmoulin and Dr. Armand Dorian for Season 3. Desmoulin, a biomedical engineer and karate black belt, is in charge of creating and executing all of the various and often intricate tests that are performed and subsequently entered into the show’s computer system. Dorian analyzes the lethal potential of each attack on the human body and discusses the type of medical treatments which were available at the time to treat such wounds.

The new season will delve deeper into the history of the legendary warriors to create an even more comprehensive composite of these formidable combatants. Season 3 will also expand its scientific exploration of the warriors’ weaponry, illustrating its innovation and technology.

“We are confident the innovations to Spike’s franchise hit, DEADLIEST WARRIOR, will be a big hit with show’s ever-growing fan base,” said Levy. “The addition of more scientific explanation behind the weapons and the historical context of the warriors will enhance the viewers’ experience.”

DEADLIEST WARRIOR: THE GAME for Xbox LIVE Arcade has been a top-selling title on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, selling over 190,000 units within the first month of its July 14 release.

Also returning for a new season in conjunction with the new episodes will be Spike.com’s, original round table discussion series, DEADLIEST WARRIOR – THE AFTERMATH. For Season 2, it continued to be hugely successful, maintaining the online interest between episodes and generating a total of 2.7 million video views. DEADLIEST WARRIOR also performed well on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, ranking as one of the highest selling TV series on the platform. In fact, since launching in April 2009, over 380,000 DEADLIEST WARRIOR episodes have been downloaded across various download-to-own platforms (iTunes, Xbox, PSN, etc).

Along with the use of 21st century science and the latest in CGI technology, the series enlists warrior-specific, world-class fighters and experts to provide insight into what makes these combatants tick, analyzing every facet of their unique skills of destruction, culminating in a head-to-head final fight between two legends of the battlefield that will produce the deadliest warrior. The recent second season featured such iconic warriors such as SWAT, Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great, Aztec Jaguar, Jesse James Gang, Al Capone Gang, Roman Centurion, India’s Rajput Warrior, Somali Pirate, KGB and CIA.