After the failure of ambitious Kings and Crusoe, NBC is picking up another epic story - Merlin - from BBC. The series is slated for a June 21 premiere on the peacock network, which bought American broadcast rights to the series in April last year. The series averaged 6.32 million viewers in the UK.
Merlin, which is based on the Arthurian legend of the titular mythical wizard, takes place on the kingdom of Camelot in a time before history began - "a fantastical realm of legendary beasts and mysterious people, a dangerous world" - where magic was banned by the current King of Camelot Uther Pendragon. The series follows Merlin as a young man gifted with extraordinary magical powers who arrives in the kingdom only to quickly make enemies, not the least of which is the heir to Uther's crown, Prince Arthur. However, thanks to guidance of Uther's wise physician Gaius, Merlin soon starts using his talents not just to survive but more importantly, unlock Camelot's mystical secrets. He is later informed that he has an important destiny to protect Arthur, so that he may grow up and found a great kingdom.
Merlin stars Colin Morgan stars as the budding wizard, Bradley James as Prince Arthur, and Anthony Head as Uther. Head said in an interview that he was hoping the series will catch on with American audiences as well the way it did on the British.
"It's one of those gigs, you go 'why the hell didn't somebody do this before.' It was so simple, it was so easy. And looking at this show, it's a spectacular, beautiful show. It's funny, witty, dark and sinister in its moments and light enough for five and six-year-old's to get off on it. We haven't had a good medieval romp since I can remember. We've had movies with knights riding around, but nothing like this on TV, usually because of the production values. But they've somehow managed to do it."
- Glenn Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source:
If Magazine, NBC
(Image courtesy of NBC)