Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
THE GIRL WHO SAVED EXCALIBUR
There’s magic, mystery and romance in a high-octane reboot of the Arthurian legend that tells the young king’s story from a totally new perspective...
For more than a thousand years, different generations have told their own versions of the Arthurian story. In the earliest tales Arthur was a powerful and bloodthirsty leader who defended Britain against Saxon invaders. Twelfthcentury French writer Chrétien de Troyes saw him as a virtuous king who was cuckolded by Lancelot. The Victorian Romantics focused on his quest for the Holy Grail, and by the time of the Second World War, radio play The Saviours had him as the embodiment of heroic British resistance against the odds.
In the last few decades we’ve seen him relegated to a cosy story of magic in shows such as Merlin. But now comes the latest take on the legend, Cursed, arriving on Netflix this week, and it’s very much a King Arthur for the 21st century by way of Game Of Thrones. There’s romance, mysticism, battles, religious extremism, genocide, refugees... and a mixed-race Arthur.
The protagonist is a woman named Nimue, who until now has only had a tiny part in the legend as the Lady of the Lake who hands Arthur his magical sword Excalibur. ‘The stories of King Arthur are the original sacred text for lovers of fantasy,’ says Tom Wheeler, who co-created Cursed with graphic novel writer Frank Miller, based on a bestselling book they wrote together. ‘Some of my earliest memories are of running around play-fighting with a toy sword with my brother to the songs of the musical Camelot, which my mum would play in the house.
‘There are so many characters who spoke to me as a little boy – Merlin the magician, King Arthur, the knight Galahad – and I thought it would be nice to have a legend that spoke to my daughter. The women in the stories tend to be mainly witches or seductresses, so it seemed like a good idea to create a heroine for these tales.
‘The story of the Lady of the Lake has always interested me. She was so puzzling. Who was this woman offering the sword? It feels like she’s a tragic character but also magical, and that’s what made it exciting and challenging.’
The ten-part series imagines the period before young Arthur became king and established his Knights of the Round Table. It starts with Nimue (played by Australian
actress Katherine Langford, who stars in the Netflix hit 13 Reasons Why) being teased by her fellow villagers. Although she’s part of the magical Fey people, the dark power of her magic means she’s seen as cursed.
The Fey are being wiped out by extremist monks, the Red Paladins, who aim to rid the world of the ‘unclean’ through fire and blood. One afternoon, after she leaves her village and bumps into a handsome stranger called
Arthur, Nimue returns home to discover the Red Paladins have ransacked the place. Her dying mother hands Nimue a sword and demands that she take it to Merlin.
And thus begins a coming-of-age quest that will see Nimue become a rebel leader trying to protect the Fey from their most vicious enemy, The Weeping Monk. Along the way she finds Arthur again and meets a brave nun-in-training, Igraine. At the same time we see a nation in flames while Merlin, so long seen as a wise mentor for Arthur, has taken to drink because he’s so disillusioned with the world. ‘The legend is always about the king and the knights, while the Lady of the Lake is overlooked,’ says Katherine. ‘So it’s been spectacular to tell her story. It’s the beginning, before Arthur is king, and there’s turmoil. Nimue and everyone on her side are fighting for anyone who is different.
‘There’s a reason this story has lasted centuries – it resonates with us. The things they’re struggling with are universal and still relevant.’
Katherine’s fellow Australian Devon Terrell, best known for playing a young Barack Obama in biographical film
Barry, plays