King Arthur gets the “Game of Thrones” treatment in the gritty new drama “The Winter King.”
The period piece, airing Sundays (9 p.m. ET on MGM+), is based on “The Warlord Chronicles” novels by Bernard Cromwell. It’s a retelling of the famous King Arthur story set in Dark Ages Britain, where the land is divided into warring tribes who are constantly battling with the Saxons.
The show is gritty, bloody and sometimes campy, with bad wigs galore.
It’s no masterpiece but, despite its flaws, there’s nonetheless enough in it to captivate fans of shows such as “Vikings” and its spinoff, and “House of the Dragon.”
“The Winter King” begins with Arthur (Iain De Caestecker), the illegitimate son of the king who is a warrior on a battlefield. (Naturally, there are lots of closeups of his face looking grim and smeared with dirt and blood to establish what kind of show this is right off the bat.)
When Arthur brings his slain brother’s body home to his abusive father, King Uther (Eddie Marsan), he’s furious and nearly kills Arthur. But the king’s advisor, Merlin (Nathaniel Martello-White), convinces the king to banish Arthur instead.
From there, the show jumps around in time — with the screen often reading “3 months later” or “8 years later.” It follows several different characters and their plotlines, along with Arthur, including Merlin’s protégé, Nimue (Ellie James), a witchy woman who can communicate with the gods but struggles between her apparent destiny and her desire for a regular life with a family; and Derfel (Stuart Campbell), a boy whom Arthur rescues from a mass grave.
The eight-year time jump shows that Derfel grew up in the idyllic village of Avalon following his rescue, but he feels compelled towards life as a warrior instead of a quiet farm life. (He and Nimue also have a bit of a star-crossed love.)
When the king has a new baby boy, Mordred, and names him as his heir, Merlin has a vision that the boy will be a tyrant who destroys Britain. So, Merlin sets out to bring the exiled Arthur back, since he thinks that Arthur is the only one who can stop that from happening and unite their kingdom against outside threats.
Similar to “Game of Thrones,” the series tries to simultaneously be a grounded pseudo-historical drama and a fanciful fantasy; for example, it’s set in a historical era, and some characters such as Derfel are real (he was a Celtic Christian monk from the 6th century), while other characters such as Merlin are legendary figures.
Magic is real in this world: Merlin is shown having visions, and Nimue communicates with the “gods” in the form of a wolf in an apparition.
The setting is not the Camelot from legends but Dumnonia, which is the historical name for a kingdom in Britain that existed during this time period.
And there are no Knights of the round table (yet).
“The Winter King” also plays fast and loose with the King Arthur story. For instance, in some versions of the famous tale, the villainous Mordred is Arthur’s illegitimate son or nephew. In this version, Mordred is his half-brother.
The writing is sometimes clunky, with characters who feel like archetypes more than people.
Nevertheless, there’s something absorbing about “The Winter King,” and its pacing never drags.
It’s not excellent TV but should appeal to any fans of gritty “swords and sandals” epics.
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