Enjoy medieval dramas like The Last Kingdom on Netflix? That show was based on a book series by author Bernard Cornwell, who has been turning out excellent historical sagas for decades. For my money, his best work — and one that I’ve been waiting to see adapted to the screen ever since I read it in middle school — is The Warlord Chronicles, about the life of King Arthur.
So I was thrilled when I heard that Bad Wolf was teaming with Sony Pictures Television to adapt this series as a TV show called The Winter King, which is the title of the first book in the series (The Last Kingdom is the title of the first book in Cornwell’s Saxon Stories series as well). Now, Deadline reports that filming on the first season of The Winter King is over, and gave us some new information on the cast. Check out the lineup below:
- Iain de Caestecker as Arthur Pendragon, the man who will become the British leader known as King Arthur
- Stuart Campbell as Derfel Cadarn, a knight and follower of Arthur
- Eddie Marsan plays High King Uther, Arthur’s father
- Ellie James as Nimue, a young pagan
- Nathaniel Martello-White as Merlin, the wizard
- Jordan Alexandra as Guinevere, “the exacting, beautiful and ambitious exiled-Princess of Henis Wyren”
- Steven Elder as Bishop Bedwin, the “deeply kind and affable Bishop of Dumnonia”
- Andrew Gower as Sansum, “Bishop Bedwin’s fanatical novice, who holds great sway over the Christians of Britain”
- Aneirin Hughes as Gorfydd, “the ruthless leader of Powys, a traditional enemy of Dumnonia”
- Tatjana Nardone as Ladwys, “a wild pagan and warrior, and rebellious lover to Gundleus”
- Ken Nwosu as Sagramor, “a fearsome warrior who is Arthur’s friend and brother in arms”
- Billy Postlethwaite as Cadwys, “a shrewd and wily warrior-king with a dedicated tribe”
- Emily John as Ceinwyn, “the sought-after princess of Powys”
Although Cornwell’s books are about King Arthur, the main character is actually Derfel, a little-known member of Arthur’s entourage; we see Arthur’s journey play out through his eyes.
The Last Kingdom author has another series getting adapted for TV: The Warlord Chronicles
The Warlord Chronicles is definitely a story fit for our particular moment. It’s about this legendary figure — King Arthur — but it takes a very grounded, realistic approach to his story while still maintaining flashes of magical realism. We also get a lot of conflict driven by the incursion of Christianity into then-pagan England, something else that will feel familiar to fans of The Last Kingdom.
We don’t know when The Winter King will come out, or even what network it will be on. It seems set to air on the British channel ITV, as well as through the on-demand service ITVX, but I hope it gets picked up elsewhere too. If the show does right by the source material, it will be worth watching!
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