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The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/23

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The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/23

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Old 08-20-23 | 03:06 AM
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The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/23




The Winter King, based on Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles series, is set in the fifth century, long before Britain was united, in a brutal land of warring factions and tribes, where lives were often fleeting. The series follows Arthur Pendragon as he evolves from outcast to legendary warrior and leader.

The series stars Iain De Caestecker (The Control Room, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Arthur Pendragon, alongside Eddie Marsan (The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, Deceit) as High King Uther, Ellie James (Giri/Haji, I May Destroy You) as Nimue, Nathaniel Martello-White (Small Axe, I Hate Suzie) as Merlin, Stuart Campbell (Rogue Heroes, Clique) as Derfel, Daniel Ings (I Hate Suzie, The Crown) as Owain, Valene Kane (The Fall, Gangs of London) as Morgan, Jordan Alexandra (Mammals) as Guinevere, and Simon Merrells (Good Omens, Knightfall) as Gundleus.

Kate Brooke (Bancroft, A Discovery of Witches) and Ed Whitmore (Silent Witness, Manhunt) adapted Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles and act as executive producers. Julie Gardner (Doctor Who, I Hate Suzie), Lachlan MacKinnon (Industry, A Discovery of Witches) and Jane Tranter (His Dark Materials, Succession) serve as executive producers with Sherry Marsh (Pose, Vikings). Shelley Browning and Kenneth L. Browning are also executive producers, and the drama is produced by Catrin Lewis Defis for Bad Wolf, in association with One Big Picture. Sony Pictures Television is distributing The Winter King worldwide, and the series will stream on ITVX in the UK later this year.







10 episode season.

1st new episode is up. This will be posted weekly and airs weekly on the linear channel. I don't think very many people in this forum have MGM+, so this thread will probably not have much activity. I do have MGM+ right now.

But, it looks good.

This looks better than that terrible Arthur origin story Camelot that aired on Starz years ago that had Eva Green and Joseph Fiennes.
Old 08-20-23 | 06:51 AM
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Re: The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/2

I wonder how faithful to the books this show will be? I will try and watch it as the three-book series is one of my favourite series about the Arthurian legend.
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Old 08-20-23 | 12:57 PM
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Re: The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/2

I loved the books so I’m looking forward to watching,

In the books Derfel is the main narrator, like Uhtred in The Last Kingdom which was also adapted from a Cornwell series.

First episode is kind of slow because it’s settings things up.
Old 08-20-23 | 03:26 PM
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Re: The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/2

I may give this a shot. I've been impressed with the quality of the shows on MGM+ (From, Godfather of Harlem, Billy the Kid)
Old 08-21-23 | 10:53 AM
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Re: The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/2

This is one of the few Bernard Cornwell series of books I haven't read so I'm going in blind. First episode was a bit confusing but it sure seems to be hitting all the usual Cornwell tropes so I'll stick with it for a while.
Old 08-27-23 | 06:45 PM
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Re: The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/2

2 episode in and I’m in agreement with the reviews that if you read the books you won’t like the series. They’ve pretty much sucked the personality that Cornwell gave the characters.

They’ve made Merlin into a wise old advisor when in the book he was a creepy, he was sleeping with Nimue, old coot.

Arthur’s whole reason for coming back was Uther naming him one of Mordred’s three protectors which they changed in this.

Last edited by MrX; 08-27-23 at 07:34 PM.
Old 08-27-23 | 07:16 PM
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Re: The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/2

Originally Posted by Osiris3657
I may give this a shot. I've been impressed with the quality of the shows on MGM+ (From, Godfather of Harlem, Billy the Kid)
Completely agree! New season of Billy coming soon as well.

Godfather of Harlem is such a prestige show, kinda shameful it gets ignored by popular media.
Old 11-05-23 | 09:47 AM
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Re: The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/2

Just finished season 1. An awful adaptation. They kept most of the main story points, but changed most of the Cornwell’s characters. Nimue is the only character close to how she is in the book.

Arthur is brooding, Derfel in no way resembles the warrior he becomes in the book, they don’t know what they want Guinevere to be, and Merlin is played as a wise advisor. Morgan and Bishop Bedwin are in love.

It doesn’t look like they had much of a budget because there are no battles They had the Isle of the Dead in the finale and it’s basically just a dark cave.

Magic was always more slight of hand and tricks in the book and in this they had Derfel and Nimue
Spoiler:
escape the Isle of the Dead after Arthur sticks Excalibur through a hole in a sealed wall and the wall collapses




They left out Benoic so Lancelot and Galahad don’t show up.



I don’t think Cornwell was happy with it because there’s no mention of the series on his Twitter page, and he had Last Kingdom stuff all over it.
Old 11-14-23 | 09:23 AM
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Re: The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/2

Originally Posted by MrX
Just finished season 1. An awful adaptation. They kept most of the main story points, but changed most of the Cornwell’s characters. Nimue is the only character close to how she is in the book.

Arthur is brooding, Derfel in no way resembles the warrior he becomes in the book, they don’t know what they want Guinevere to be, and Merlin is played as a wise advisor. Morgan and Bishop Bedwin are in love.

It doesn’t look like they had much of a budget because there are no battles They had the Isle of the Dead in the finale and it’s basically just a dark cave.

Magic was always more slight of hand and tricks in the book and in this they had Derfel and Nimue
Spoiler:
escape the Isle of the Dead after Arthur sticks Excalibur through a hole in a sealed wall and the wall collapses





They left out Benoic so Lancelot and Galahad don’t show up.



I don’t think Cornwell was happy with it because there’s no mention of the series on his Twitter page, and he had Last Kingdom stuff all over it.
Besides being an awful adapation, is it worth while watching if one doesn't know the book?
Old 11-14-23 | 11:37 AM
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Re: The Winter King (MGM+) -- S: Iain De Caestecker -- Based on the King Arthur story -- Premieres 8/20/2

Originally Posted by Runaway
Besides being an awful adapation, is it worth while watching if one doesn't know the book?
People who hadn't read the books seemed to like it more than book readers, but I saw a lot of people thought it went downhill in the second half.

There's nothing that really that stands out about it and it ends on a cliffhanger. There's no word if it will get a season 2.

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