Warning: SPOILERS for Cursed season 1.
Here are the biggest unanswered questions left behind by Cursed season 1. The Netflix series created by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler radically reimagines the legend of King Arthur and centers the story on Nimue (Katherine Langford), a teenage sorceress known as the Wolf-Blood Witch who is destined to become the Lady of the Lake.
Cursed season 1 follows Nimue's story of discovery and self-determination as she transforms into the Fey Queen, the protector of her people against the Catholic Church and their army called the Red Paladins. Meanwhile, Cursed introduced most of the classic characters of the Arthurian cycle, including very different incarnations of Arthur (Devon Terrell), his sister Morgana (Shalom Brume-Franklin), Lancelot (Daniel Sharman), and Merlin (Gustaf Skarsgard). The series also featured a great deal of world-building, introducing various races of Fey Folk, a cadre of dark gods and Shadow Lords, and hordes of Vikings seeking the throne of England from King Uther Pendragon (Sebastian Armesto) and his mother, the Queen Regent (Polly Walker). Throughout, Nimue wields the magical Sword of Power, which is the MacGuffin everyone wants in order to control the English crown, but Nimue finds herself slowly corrupted by the ancient sword.
Cursed season 1 ends with a literal cliffhanger that seemingly results in Nimue's death while the other characters take huge leaps to become closer to the classic Arthurian myth. But while Cursed answered many questions about Nimue and her origins, a great deal was left unresolved and these major questions need to be answered in Cursed season 2.
10. Is Nimue Really Dead?
Cursed season 1 ended with Nimue's apparent death, which was alluded to in glimpses of her underwater throughout the season. As Nimue, Merlin, and Morgana escaped the Pendragon camp, they were pursued by Sister Iris (Emily Coates), who shot arrows into Nimue, causing her to plunge off a stone bridge into the waters below.
Nimue is the main character of Cursed so she's not "dead" in the sense that her story is now over, but this could still mean the end of her mortal life. After all, Nimue's tragic destiny is to become the Lady of the Lake of Arthurian legend, and this is an ideal set up for her to transform into that magical being. But if Cursed gets season 2, it's hard to see how Nimue could spend all those episodes as the Lady of the Lake, so what trickery will the series employ to allow her to live through this fate?
9. Will The Sword of Power Be Called Excalibur?
One of Cursed's many surprises is that the magical sword exists but it's never called Excalibur. Instead, the fabled weapon goes by different names, primarily the Sword of Power and the Devil's Tooth. Many questions surround the Sword of Power, which denoted the line of ancient Kings and is now sought after by King Uther Pendragon and by the Church of Rome: How old is the sword? How did the sword end up inside Merlin? And how and why will the sword become known as Excalibur - or will that even happen in Cursed's reimagined King Arthur story?
8. Why Did The Sword of Power Choose Nimue?
The premise of Cursed asks the question: "What if Excalibur was meant for a Queen instead of King Arthur?" However, Cursed season 1 doesn't make clear exactly why the sword chose Nimue instead of Arthur, especially since Arthur is right there with her for most of season 1. The Devil's Tooth is connected to Merlin, who may have even forged the Sword in the Fey Fires millennia ago, so as Merlin's daughter, the Sword is also bonded to Nimue. But the question of why the Sword of Power is Nimue's to wield when her destiny, it's assumed, is to ultimately pass it on to Arthur has to be further clarified.
7. Are The Red Paladins No Longer A Threat?
The Red Paladins, led by Father Carden (Peter Mullan), terrorized England and tried to wipe out the Fey Folk throughout Cursed season 1. The series effectively set up the conflict of how the Roman Catholic Church sought to wipe out all of the pagan peoples to ensure the dominance of the Age of Men, and capturing the Sword of Power was vital to achieving these ends. However, Nimue (with a big assist from Morgana) killed Father Carden, so does that mean the Red Paladins are no longer a threat?
At the end of the Cursed season 1 finale, the series introduced what looks like an even more dangerous threat from Rome: the black-robbed and golden mask-wearing Trinity Guard. Sister Iris even joins the Trinity Guard after she "killed" Nimue. Will the Trinity Guard replace the Red Paladins as Cursed season 2's Big Bads?
6. What Did Nimue's Spell Do To Gawain?
Nimue's childhood friend (and unrequited love interest) Gawain AKA the Green Knight (Matt Stokoe) was captured and tortured nearly to death by the Red Paladins. In her despair, Nimue used the Sword of Power's magic and it encased Gawain in flora - but what does this mean for the Fey Folk's great defender? What is actually happening to Gawain? Will he be merely resurrected from death or will he be transformed into something else - i.e., will Gawain somehow become a literal Green Knight thanks to Nimue's magic?
5. Will The Fey Accept Lancelot After Everything He Did As The Weeping Monk?
Arguably Cursed season 1's most shocking revelation is that the villainous Weeping Monk is actually Lancelot, and that Lancelot is one of the Fey but was "saved" i.e. corrupted by Father Carden to serve the Red Paladins as their greatest weapon because he can sense his own kind. Lancelot claimed he lived by a code and that he didn't kill women and children but he's still directly responsible for numerous deaths and he's complicit in the crimes against the Fey Folk by the Red Paladins.
However, the end of Cursed season 1 launched Lancelot on a redemption arc. According to Arthurian legend, Lancelot is destined to become King Arthur's First Knight and best friend, but he'll fall in love with Queen Guinevere. Cursed's version of Lancelot is still a long away from all of that; first, he has to return Squirrel AKA Percival (Billy Jenkins) back home to his people. But now that Lancelot is exiled from the Church, will the Fey Folk accept him or make him pay for all of his crimes?
4. What Was The Demon Bear That Attacked Nimue?
The title of the show is Cursed and it refers to what happened to Nimue as a child when she was attacked by a dark god in the form of a demon bear. But what kind of dark god was the demon bear and was it different from the Shadow Lords? Nimue was left with scars on her back from the bear's claws and it cursed her with her magical abilities to control trees and nature. The Cailleach also indicated that Nimue could become the most powerful sorceress in the world, a destiny they want Morgana to have instead. But what exactly is the curse inflicted upon Nimue? Is it her powers? If so, her magic has helped her and the Fey more than they've been a liability. Or is the curse that she's meant to become the Lady of the Lake? Or is the fact that she's Merlin's daughter Nimue's true curse?
3. Is Nimue Immortal Like Merlin?
Nimue is Merlin's daughter, which is one of Cursed's biggest surprises and changes to Arthurian myth. Nimue's powers and true nature have only been hinted at in Cursed but it's clear that she's half-Fey on her mother Lenore's (Catherine Walker) side and she's half-Druid, thanks to her father Merlin. But does Merlin's immortality also apply to Nimue?
Plenty of questions surround Merlin's origins and his relationship to the Shadow Lords, but he's been alive for thousands of years and he's also been driven mad by his possession of the Sword of Power. Nimue felt the same corruption from wielding the Devil's Tooth, but to what extent is she truly like Merlin, and is immortality something he has passed down to his daughter?
2. What Does Becoming The Widow Mean For Morgana?
Morgana had one of Cursed season 1's most surprising character arcs. The sister of Arthur was a nun named Igraine when Nimue met and befriended her, but she became one of the Fey's defenders and Nimue's trusted advisor when Merlin's daughter became the Fey Queen. But Morgana was also transformed by the spider god called the Cailleach and she killed the Widow and took the agent of death's place by the end of Cursed season 1.
In Arthurian myth, Morgan le Fay is a powerful sorceress and the enemy of King Arthur and Merlin. Cursed's Morgana is well on her way to becoming the saga's villain but turning into the Widow is an interesting twist, as is her friendship with Nimue. Will Morgana continue to be corrupted as the Widow in Cursed season 2 and will she indeed become the Big Bad of the story?
1. Will Arthur Still Become King (And How)?
Arthur, and the circumstances surrounding his origins, is the most radically reimagined character in Cursed compared to the classic legend. Arthur is no longer the son of King Uther Pendragon and Cursed remade him into a well-meaning sellsword who falls in love with Nimue. Meanwhile, the entire Pendragon royal lineage is changed by Cursed so that Uther is actually an imposter who isn't King by bloodline. Further, Cursed creates a new conflict over who has the right to be King as Uther is challenged by Cumber the Viking Ice King (Johannes Haukur Johannesson).
By the time Cursed season 1 ends, Arthur is still far away from becoming King and it's not clear how - or even if - it will even happen. However, by the end of Cursed season 1, Arthur met Guinevere, who was reimagined as a Viking warrior princess calling herself the Red Spear. Since Arthur and Guinevere are destined to marry (and fall into a love triangle with Lancelot), this calls Arthur's romance with Nimue into question. But Cursed is obviously playing entirely by its own rules regarding the King Arthur legend so who knows what Arthur's destiny will be and if the Sword of Power and the throne of England will ultimately be his.
Cursed is available to stream on Netflix.