Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Cursed season 1.
Arthur (Devon Terrell) may not be the son of Uther Pendragon in Netflix fantasy series Cursed - but that doesn't mean he can't become king. Starring Katherine Langford in the lead role as Nimue, the wielder of the Sword of Power (a.k.a. Excalibur), Cursed is an alternative spin on Arthurian legend created by Frank Miller and Thomas Wheeler, and based on their book of the same name.
Cursed tells a "what-if?" story in which the Sword of Power chooses a queen instead of a king, but that's not the only major change made in the series. King Uther Pendragon (Sebastian Armesto) isn't Arthur's father, but he's also not the legitimate heir to the throne. It's revealed that the previous king's only son was stillborn, and so the queen mother, Lady Lunete (Polly Walker), swapped the dead child with the newborn son of a peasant in order to secure her place as queen regent until he came of age.
The truth about Uther's birth eventually gets out, amid a war between several factions: there's Nimue, who is chosen as the Fey Queen; Uther, struggling to hold on to the throne of Britain; and Cumber the Ice King (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), a Viking who claims that he is the true blood heir of the Pendragons. Meanwhile the Red Spear (Bella Dayne), an exiled Viking warrior from Cumber's clan, is hell-bent on revenge, and the Red Paladins are ready to side with whomever will support their eradication of the Fey from the land. In the middle of all this, Arthur is simply a mercenary of non-royal origins - but he could still become a king.
Arthur's Story In The Legends
It's unclear whether King Arthur is based on a real person, or on multiple real persons, or whether he's entirely a work of fiction. Arthur's story was first laid out in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th century text The History of the Kings of Britain, but the version of the legend that most modern audiences are familiar with is taken from Sir Thomas Malory's 15th century retelling Le Morte D'Arthur. According to this version, Arthur was born the son of Uther Pendragon, but was spirited away as a baby and raised by Sir Ector, whom he believed was his father. Much like Arthur in Cursed, he had a somewhat humble childhood, eventually becoming a squire to Sir Ector's son, Sir Kay. It was in his duties as squire that he ended up pulling the famous sword from the stone.
With Uther Pendragon having died when Arthur was just two years old, Britain was left leaderless and in great jeopardy. Merlin finally offered guidance by suggesting a service in London where all of the lords and knights of the land would pray in the churches. When they emerged, they found a marble stone with an anvil upon it and a sword stuck in the anvil. Inscribed in gold around the sword were the words "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England." Several days later a tourney was held, but Sir Kay had lost his sword. He instructed Arthur to go and fetch a sword for him, and Arthur ran to the churchyard and pulled the sword from the stone. Once people realized exactly which sword he had brought for Sir Kay, and it was confirmed that only he could pull it from the stone, Sir Ector revealed the true circumstances of Arthur's birth. He was crowned king, and the period of turmoil came to an end under his rule.
Arthur's Story In Cursed
In Cursed, flashbacks reveal that Arthur and Morgana were left orphans after their father was killed defending a woman from men who were harassing her. Interestingly, Morgana says that her name at the convent - Sister Igraine - is due to a mix-up, and that Igraine was actually her grandmother's name. In Arthurian legends, Igraine was the wife of Uther Pendragon and the mother of King Arthur, so this detail could mean that Arthur is actually the grandson of the last legitimate king. Arthur and Morgana's mother is never shown in the flashbacks, and must have died before their father in order for the children to have been left orphaned. If Lady Lunete was the previous king's second wife, or if that king had an affair with Igraine, then Arthur's mother may have been the product of that relationship.
Regardless of his potentially royal bloodline, Arthur did not have a particularly noble upbringing. His Aunt Marion (Jaye Griffiths) is married to Sir Ector (Peter Guinness), who in Cursed is said to have had a son called Charles who was killed in battle - perhaps the show's version of Sir Kay. Despite being related to him through marriage, Ector showed Arthur very little charity. When Arthur was left with the burden of his father's debts, Morgana was sent away to the convent by Sir Ector and Arthur became a mercenary in order to pay off his debts. However, he has aspirations to become something better - and by fighting for the Fey he may just achieve this goal.
How Cursed's Arthur Could Become King
As mentioned above, there's a possibility that Cursed will reveal Arthur really does have royal blood on his mother's side, in which case he could be the rightful heir to the Pendragon line. But even if he doesn't, there are other ways in which he could become king. Though they're often conflated, the sword in the stone and Excalibur are not actually the same sword in traditional Arthurian texts. In Cursed, however, they appear to have been combined into one sword: the Devil's Tooth, or Sword of Power, which is not only a formidable weapon but can also confer the right to rule on whomever wields it.
According to the show's mythos, the true king (or queen) is not necessarily chosen by bloodline, but chosen by the sword itself. The authority of the sword is widely respected among the nobility and people of Britain, which is why Uther is so desperate to get his hands on it. This means that if the sword were to choose Arthur to wield it, then he could become king - regardless of who his parents were. With Nimue presumed dead at the end of Cursed season 1, Merlin may choose to pass the sword to Arthur rather than be corrupted by its power again.
Another possibility for how Arthur could become king is via the Red Spear. As revealed in the book version of Cursed, the Red Spear is actually a version of Guinevere, and sparks are already flying between her and Arthur in their first meeting. The Red Spear seems to be driven by hatred of Cumber the Ice King rather than any desire for a throne herself, but in her vendetta against him she could well become a contender for the throne. Since Cumber claims to be the heir to the Pendragon bloodline, it could also be revealed that the Red Spear has royal blood of her own. In another spin on the traditional legends, Guinevere could end up becoming queen of Britain with Arthur as her king consort. That would certainly be a twist befitting what we've seen of Cursed so far.