The Reinvigoration of King Arthur: A Fresh Twist on Arthurian Legend
The upcoming young adult fantasy television adaptation, Legendborn, promises to breathe new life into the classic tales of King Arthur with a modern twist. This article explores the history of Arthurian adaptations, the impact of recent projects like Netflix's Cursed, and the potential of Legendborn to revitalize the genre.
The Rich History of Arthurian Adaptations
The stories of King Arthur, his knights, and Merlin are some of the oldest tales in fantasy, with these classic stories helping to shape much of what modern fantasy has come to be known as. Due to their popularity, Arthurian legend has been reimagined in many different ways, but these adaptations of King Arthur stories have slowed in recent years.
Two characters cast spells that are red and blue in the Legendborn Bloodmarked book cover.
King Arthur stories have been adapted in all kinds of different ways throughout the years, with different Arthurian movies and TV shows being seen in nearly every decade. King Arthur adaptations really got a second wind in the 2000s after the fantasy genre became a hot topic in the wake of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with 2004's King Arthur movie and 2008's Merlin TV show being two prominent examples.
Emily Coates In Cursed
However, recent adaptations of Arthurian legend have failed, such as 2017's King Arthur: Legend of Sword, proving that a unique take on the stories needs to reinvigorate the stories of King Arthur once again.
lady of the lake cursed nimue
The Fresh Twist: Legendborn and Its Impact
One of the fantasy books that is getting adapted into an upcoming TV show is Tracy Deonn's 2020 novel Legendborn, with the exciting project putting a fresh twist on Arthurian legend and possibly reinvigorating the genre. The story follows a 16-year-old girl named Bree Matthews who decides to investigate a mysterious magical group at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who she believes had a hand in the death of her mother. She infiltrates the group under the cover of being a trainee, where she soon learns that the group is made up of magical descendants of the fifteen knights of King Arthur.
Sebastian Armesto as Uther Pendragon Netflix Cursed
Legendborn was critically acclaimed upon its release, making Tracy Deonn's debut novel a hot item for adaptation. Black Bear Television has acquired the rights to adapt Legendborn for TV, and writer Felicia D. Henderson will be the co-executive producer of the project, with her having worked on TV shows like Family Matters, Gossip Girl, and Marvel's The Punisher. Not much news has been announced about the Legendborn TV show, with it presumably being developed and shopped around to studios, but fans of Arthurian legend have a lot of reason to be immensely excited for the project, as it could change everything.
Katherine Langford in Netflix King Arthur show Cursed released July 17
Legendborn puts several major twists on Arthurian legend, some that haven't been seen on TV in a long time. Firstly, Legendborn heavily focuses on the magical aspects of Arthurian legend, with it featuring the descendants of Merlin as well as things like reincarnation. The book is also pretty diverse, with the main character even being a young black girl, something that is unique to the historically white stories of King Arthur. Since Legendborn's characters are descendants of the Arthurian knights, pretty much every character is a unique spin on the classic heroes, allowing Legendborn to be a fresh new take on King Arthur.
The Impact of Netflix's Cursed and the Continuing Demand for Arthurian Stories
While some recent King Arthur projects have flopped, demand for Arthurian stories is still there, as has been proven by Netflix's Cursed. Cursed is a 2020 Netflix series based on the novel by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler, with it being another reimagining of Arthurian legend. This time, the series focuses on a young girl who is destined to become the Lady of the Lake, with all kinds of other popular Arthurian characters cropping up throughout the show.
The success of Netflix's Cursed shows that there is still an audience hungry for the stories of King Arthur, with Cursed possibly setting the table for the success of Legendborn. While shows like Merlin have been successful in the past, Legendborn can be the defining retelling of King Arthur stories of the 2020s, with it being fresh enough to stand out from the crowd. It will probably still be a while until Legendborn released, but when it does it could be one of the biggest fantasy shows of the decade.
