Katherine Langford Wields Excalibur In Netflix’s Cursed TV Show Images
Katherine Langford wields Excalibur in new images from Netflix's Cursed TV show. Based on the illustrated novel by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler, the fantasy series is an Arthurian re-imagining form the perspective of Nimue (Langford), the young woman destined to - tragically - become the Lady of the Lake one day. Wheeler, who also created the short-lived superhero series The Cape and co-wrote family-friendly films like Dora and the Lost City of Gold, served as head creative on the Cursed show. As for Langford, the series marks the Love, Simon and Knives Out costar's second major collaboration with Netflix after the controversial teen drama 13 Reasons Why.
With people staying home and social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic, Netflix has enjoyed record viewership numbers for many of their recent exclusive movie and TV series. Hoping to keep their momentum going into the summer, the streamer just barely announced their plans to release the anticipated new projects from directors Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods) and Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Old Guard) in June and July. They've also slated Cursed to premiere in the next few months and released the first wave of promotional material online, ahead of then.
Today, EW unveiled several new images highlighting Langford and the rest of the Cursed cast, including Devon Terrell (Barry) as Arthur, Gustaf Skarsgård (Westworld) as Merlin, Daniel Sharman (Fear the Walking Dead) as The Weeping Monk, Peter Mullan (another Westworld veteran) as Father Carden, Matt Stokoe (Jamestown) as Gawain, and Sebastian Armesto (The Terror) as King Uther Pendragon. We've included all those photos in the gallery below, along with some additional images and the poster released by Netflix.
Re-imaginings of the Arthur mythology aren't exactly an easy sell these days (just ask Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), largely because there've been so many in both film and television over the decades. Cursed, on the other hand, seems to have found an interesting new spin on the legend - namely, by making it about someone other than Arthur and/or Merlin. There's still the risk of Cursed coming off as generic fantasy fare, especially since it seems to lack the silly-pulpy appeal of The Witcher or visual innovation of Netflix's lesser-watched, but well-received, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance series. But much like the latter, Cursed has the potential to introduce compelling new ideas to the Arthur lore by exploring a not-so-traditional hero's journey (one where the lead tries to do the right thing, despite being doomed to a tragic fate).
As the pandemic continues, Netflix is smart to tap into the increased demand for new entertainment options at home and make Cursed available this summer, rather than saving it for later this year. The show doesn't have a ton of buzz right now, but that could change once the trailer drops and word of mouth kicks in (assuming it's good, obviously). Netflix series like Hollywood and Never Have I Ever have quickly gone from not being on many people's radar to becoming hot discussion topics by premiering in the current environment. Whether Cursed follows in their footsteps or not, that remains to be seen.
Cursed streams on Netflix sometime this summer.
Source: EW, Netflix