Katherine Langford's King Arthur Netflix show, Cursed, dropped an epic new trailer that goes all-in on the sword-wielding action. The show comes from the minds of comic book legend Frank Miller and TV writer Tom Wheeler and is based on their Young Adult novel of the same name. Earlier this month, Netflix released a teaser trailer for the series, which consists of 10 episodes, revealing a July 17 release date.
This is the second Netflix show Langford stars in, following her turn as Hannah Barker in the controversial drama 13 Reasons Why. In Cursed, Langford tackles the character of Nimue, traditionally portrayed as the Lady in the Lake, who gives the sword Excalibur to King Arthur. In this adaptation, however, Nimue is the protagonist, taking up the sword of Excalibur for herself.
Netflix dropped a full-length trailer for the show, revealing the epic scope of the series. The trailer foregrounds the action, showing several jaw-dropping set pieces in slow motion. It also focuses on the story of the sword, which will be a driving force in the narrative. Additionally, the trailer sets up the two villains in the show - Peter Mullan's Father Carden, who claims his mission is "the extinction of magic," and Gustaf Skarsgård's Merlin, who seems to have had his magical powers stripped from him by Excalibur. You can watch the entire trailer below.
The show will also feature Devon Terrell, who played Barack Obama in Netlfix's Barry. He plays Arthur, a mercenary who encounters Nimue and joins her in the quest to return Excalibur to Merlin. The trailer also offers glimpses of Daniel Sharman as The Weeping Monk and Sebastian Armesto as King Uther.
The promo certainly makes the show look ambitiously large. It also seems as though Netflix is positioning it as a Young Adult alternative to darker fantasy fare like Game of Thrones and The Witcher. Unfortunately, some of the CGI looks quite poor and detracts from the beautiful cinematography. But hopefully, that will be fixed in time for the show's debut.
The trailer also makes it clear that this is not the classic King Arthur tale. Based on all of the marketing material seen so far, it's clear that in Cursed Langford's Nimue will be a hardened warrior, who leads a group of rebels or outlaws against a religious group intent on ridding their world of magic.
Source: Netflix