CAST

Bernard Cornwell (Novels); Kate Brooke & Ed Whitmore (Creators)

Iain De Caestecker
Eddie Marsan
Daniel Ings
Jordan Alexandra
Stuart Campbell
Nathaniel Martello-White
Ellie James
Valene Kane
Ken Nwosu

Review

There was a time when Bernard Cornwell‘s books intimidated me, don’t ask me why I don’t know the answer, their subjects aligned with my interests and yet I have yet to picked them. This one is a take on the Arthurian legend that is closer to Game of Thrones than Merlin.

Set in a divided 5th-century Britain, this show has the grit and grime one might expect for the genre and the scenery to go with it. Storywise the pilot does a good job at building the world and establishing the key players. I don’t know what’s coming but I can tell that quite a few things are brewing and some of them might be juicy and exciting. The acting is great and match the high production value, De Caestecker embodies Arthur in an even better way than I thought he would and I already thought that he was great casting. The same goes for the rest of the cast, I knew who they were due to my general knowledge of the King Arthur legend before a name was uttered – I’m including Martello-White in that, – which is a great job from the actors and the costum designers.

I don’t have to dive deep into the internet to have guessed that they might be a problem with the race of certain characters. It took me seeing more than one dark skinned actor that wasn’t a background one to expect the hate this show might get regardless of how good it is.

The show is more gruesome, bloody, and grounded than your typical Arthurian legend, they’ve set up quite the exciting historical drama.

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