There have been plenty of attempts on both the big and small screen to adapt the King Arthur legend over recent years. Guy Ritchie‘s King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword starring Charlie Hunnam fell on its face last year, and maybe the best attempt was 2008’s Merlin series. But studios will never stop trying to adapt a well known property into profitable content, so here we are again.
Netflix has teamed up with Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler for Cursed, a new reimagining of the King Arthur legend. It’s an interesting deal, as comics legend Miller and Wheeler will write and illustrate a YA book of the same name that will simultaneously be released at the same time and be the source for the 10-episode series.
Both the series and book will focus on Nimue, a key character from the mythology that will help set up the origin story. She’s described as “a teenage heroine with a mysterious gift who is destined to become the powerful (and tragic) Lady of the Lake”.
After her mother dies, Nimue partners with a young mercenary by the name of Arthur as they attempt to find Merlin and obtain a magical sword. It’s during the journey that Nimue helps build up support for the rebellion against King Uther.
It’s an interesting strategy to produce both a book and a series, but Netflix has always been about doing things the unconventional way. It could be argued that general audiences have proven multiple times that they don’t seem that interested in the King Arthur story, but Netflix shows have become known for mostly being high quality, so plenty of people will at least give this one a chance.
Miller said in a statement: “I have always been entranced by the mythological Arthur story—and by Nimue, in particular. It can be interpreted in any number of ways — from a delightful children’s story, as in The Sword in the Stone, to a terrifying interpretation like Excalibur”.
Cursed currently does not have a release date, but is expected to debut in the autumn of 2019.
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