Arthur's Legacy (2013 TV series)

"When the boy became the legend. When the legend became the man."

- The show's tagline Arthur's Legacy is a British fantasy-adventure drama television programme written and created by Michael Morpurgo, Jake Michie and Julian Murphy. It is a TV series about Arthurian legend characters reincarnating in 21st century England and having to deal with threats from their legendary enemies.

The film stars Freddie Highmore as a young Arthur Pendragon, who discovers the sword Excalibur and becomes the hero of the TV series, as well as Rachel Hurd-Wood as the beautiful princess Guinevere, Dakota Blue Richards as the ruthless sorceress Morgause and Thomas Brodie Sangster as the mysterious sorcerer Merlin.

The series received acclaim from critics for its incorporation of modern-day culture and legend, the practical/special effects, story and acting performances, especially its younger cast. It has gained a cult following and an extensive online fan-base with fanfiction prominently surrounding other Arthurian characters and their incorporation into the series.

Season 1 (2013)

 * 1) Awakening
 * 2) The sorcerer and the sword
 * 3) Morgause
 * 4) High King of Britain
 * 5) Fire and Blood
 * 6) The Green Knight - Part 1
 * 7) The Green Knight - Part 2
 * 8) The Cloak of Kings
 * 9) The Lady of the Lake
 * 10) Cauldron of the Ages
 * 11) Blood Brothers
 * 12) The Cave of Light
 * 13) Going Underground
 * 14) Prophecy
 * 15) Cry of the Griffin
 * 16) Tristram
 * 17) No More Heroes
 * 18) King of Bones
 * 19) The Heralding - Part 1
 * 20) The Heralding - Part 2

Season 2 (2014)
TBA

Season 3 (2015)
TBA

Heroes

 * Freddie Highmore as Tony Keaton/King Arthur Pendragon, the legendary hero of Arthurian legend who discovers Excalibur and accidentally awakens the original characters of the past. Tony becomes a skilled warrior and learns the true mechanisms of being a leader.
 * Richard E Grant as an older Arthur who communicates with him in his dreams
 * Rachel Hurd-Wood as Katie French/Guinevere, in the past Arthur's lover and queen. In the present, she lives on the same street as Tony and he has feelings for her, though she does not know him. Guinevere is periodically targeted by the antagonists of the series because she is considered King Arthur's weakness. Guinevere herself is compassionate
 * Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Kurt Richardson/Merlin, once a young and overtly eccentric boy who is an outsider for his interest in the supernatural. As Merlin, he is a wise and powerful sorcerer who becomes Arthur's guide throughout the series. His companion is the eagle Valkyrie, and has a prolific knowledge of the magical elements of the world, including the creatures and legends and a multitude of magical spells.
 * Asa Butterfield as Brian Trask/Kay, once Arthur's spoiled half-brother turned antiheroic knight, Kay, as Brian, was an aloof and narcissistic brute and an enemy of Tony's, and once he becomes Kay he becomes a hot-headed member of the Knights of the Round Table. Kay is arrogant, but he is also determined to a fault, and is seldom known to ever falter in getting what he wants.
 * Logan Lerman as James Davison/Sir Lancelot, once a popular and athletic boy who is a neighbour of Tony's. In legend, and once he becomes Lancelot, he was the noblest and bravest of all the Knights of the Round Table. He is a seasoned warrior and a renowned believer in mercy and honour, but he also secretly has a romantic interest in Guinevere which eventually draws him and Arthur apart.
 * Lino Facioli as Ben Peterson/Sir Percival, originally a shy and introverted boy who is haunted by the death of his parents. As Sir Percival, he is a young and impulsive but selfless and determined warrior who is destined to duel the Golden Knight to his death at some point.
 * Chloe Grace Moretz as Lady Nimue, originally the homeless, nameless teenager who lives alone on an island near London Zoo. As Lady Nimue, she is an enigmatic, powerful and cryptic sorceress and a clairvoyant who leads Arthur to Excalibur and predicts what will happen in the future for Arthur. She is hinted to be more powerful than Merlin, and can communicate telepathically with all life.

Antagonists

 * Dakota Blue Richards as Henrietta Wilson/Morgause, Tony's estranged half-sister who was seperated from him when his parents were killed. As Morgause, she serves as the main antagonist of Season 2, and is the sister of the witch Morgana le Fay, and determined throughout the series to see her returned from imprisonment. Morgause is a ruthless and extremely powerful sorceress, able to bend the constructs of nature itself, such as making a tree shrink back to its status as a sapling.
 * Georgie Henley as Morgana le Fay, Morgause and Arthur's older half-sister and the true main antagonist of the series as a whole. Morgana was once the archenemy of Arthur, and unshakably determined to take the Throne of Camelot for herself, but instead she opted to steal the Scabbard of Excalibur, robbing Arthur of his invulnerability, and turned herself to stone so he couldn't retake the Scabbard. The first three seasons are dedicated to resurrecting her, and she is prophecised to become a monstrous tyrant.
 * Daniel Huttlestone as Kevin Swift/Mordred, Arthur's stepson and the individual who was fated to defeat and kill him in battle after the arrival of the Holy Grail. As Kevin Swift, he is Tony's best friend and confidante when Tony is caught between his loyalty to England and his love for Guinevere. In season 4, he becomes Mordred, a hateful, jealous and bitter sociopath who intends to complete his destined defeat of Arthur out of spite alone.
 * Idris Elba as the Black Knight, named so because his entire body is black, Morgause's bodyguard who is magically bound to do as she commands his entire life. He is a brutal swordsman and a pitiless warrior who wields a magical sword that literally rips the flesh off anything it touches. The Black Knight seldom speaks, but to declare somebody its next kill or to challenge a person to a duel that they will inevitably lose, since he cannot be killed conventionally and is even so extremely hard to kill magically.
 * James Masters as the Green Knight, named so because his entire body is green, is a resurrected outlaw who challenges every single one of the Knights of the Round Table to a duel, to test the way they fight and how they are destined to die in future. His final champion is Gawain, and Gawain ultimately defeats him.

Magical creatures

 * Jeremy Irons as Culdreth, the Red Dragon, and one of the oldest beings on the planet. He is an ancient, formidable and wise dragon who, on multiple occasions, creates obstacles and challenges for the heroes to prove their prophecised worth in comparison to the original characters - for example, Lancelot's bravery in comparison to his previous incarnation's. Culdreth is the oldest dragon alive, and considers most others to have become disappointments in comparison to what his race used to be.
 * Stephen Dillane as Horvath, the White Dragon, and the second oldest of the dragons, whose growth has been magically accelerated to make him stronger and more frightening by Morgana's followers. Like Culdreth, he is powerful and wise, but also prideful to a fault and aggressive, quick to anger and impulsive, making him the perfect adversary for wiser opponents. Culdreth has never met him up until Season 7 and they are destined to battle one another to decide the fate of all dragons.
 * James McAvoy as Valkyrie, Merlin's pet eagle and familiar, with whom Merlin shares a fiercely strong telepathic connection with. Valkyrie is extremely cynical and judgemental of others, criticising Arthur for his worth for ruling England and Guinever for being worthy as his significant other, but Valkyrie is also compassionate, empathetic and heroic in his own way.
 * Roger Allam as the Griffin, a creature with the body of a lion, along with the wings and head of an eagle, who has been hibernating for the last two hundred years. He is the last of his kind and so old that his name is completely unknown, being the oldest creature bar Culdreth. His loyalty is completely unknown since he appears to serve both sides at certain points in the series.