Netflix's 'Cursed' Looks Like a Sexy, Bloody Spin on King Arthur
Prepare to get medieval by watching the new trailer.
The legend of King Arthur is a tale that will be told again and again and again, as long as humans continue to love stories about wizards, fair maidens and knights in shining armor on galloping steeds, which means it'll be around forever. What's so compelling about Arthurian lore is how complex and contradictory it is, allowing for multiple versions of the same story to exist at the same time and many different characters' perspectives to choose from. Netflix knows this, because they're about to debut Cursed, a new series arriving July 17, that focuses on the untold story of the enigmatic Lady of the Lake, also known as Nimue.
It's set during a dark time in Britain: The Red Paladins, religious fanatics enabled by the corrupt King Uther Pendragon, are hunting down and killing the Fey, people with magical powers that connect them to the land. When young Nimue's village is slaughtered, her mother entrusts her with a mysterious sword of power, and Nimue ventures forth on a quest. To save her country, she's helped along by a young mercenary named -- wait for it -- Arthur.
Nimue is played by Katherine Langford, who you may know from the controversial Netflix show 13 Reasons Why, and Arthur is played by Devon Terrell. Gustaf Skarsgård, of the famous Skarsgård clan of actors, plays the wizard Merlin. Westworld and Ozark scene-stealer Peter Mullan is also involved, playing a Red Paladin leader.
The series is based on the novel written by Thomas Wheeler and illustrated by the legendary comic artist Frank Miller, who also brought us 300, Sin City, and Batman: Year One. As such, the show promises a bloody good time, full of swordfights and battles and magic spells. It looks great from this trailer, and it's exciting to see the tale of King Arthur told from a female perspective, especially one as arcane as the Lady of the Lake, who we'll discover here is a lot more than just a strange woman lying in a pond distributing swords.
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