The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin – The Once and Future Streamer (trailer).
At long last, King Arthur is getting another go. Apparently, the BBC hasn’t cornered the market on moody wizards and morally conflicted knights, because The Daily Wire has decided to take a swing at the Round Table with The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin. Yes, you read that correctly, The Daily Wire. So, polish your armour, brace for ideological jousting, and prepare to see Camelot rendered through the lens of “freedom, family, and very intense hair-lighting.”
This one’s based on Stephen R. Lawhead’s beloved fantasy novels, which drag the Arthurian legends out of fairyland and into the blood-and-mud realism of Roman-occupied Britain. Imagine Game of Thrones had a spiritual awakening, got baptised in the Thames, and decided to go Celt-Catholic for the aesthetic.
Set in a collapsing post-Roman world where barbarians are queuing up to invade like they’ve spotted a half-price mead sale, the series promises druids, destiny, and enough slow-motion horse riding to qualify for its own equestrian event. The titular Merlin hasn’t quite got his beard yet — the series is an origin story — so expect fewer long beards and more youthful angst as our future wizard-advisor tries to make sense of Britain’s doom-laden destiny.
The cast includes Tom Sharp, Rose Reid, and Alex Laurence-Phillips — not household names yet, but give them time; no one had heard of Sean Bean before Sharpe, and look how that turned out (dead, usually). The show’s visuals, judging by the trailer, are heavy on mist, moody rocks, and men staring nobly into the middle distance. You can almost smell the damp wool and destiny.
Guinevere? Not yet. Arthur? Maybe next season. Merlin? Absolutely — probably gazing into a puddle and seeing visions of Britain’s future tax policy.
The series launches on DailyWire+ (their streaming service that insists it’s totally not political, just “passionate”) on 22nd January 2026, with the first two episodes dropping early for All Access members on Christmas Day 2025. Because nothing says festive cheer like a grimdark retelling of a Celtic apocalypse. Lawhead’s original Pendragon Cycle books are beloved for their heady mix of myth, mysticism, and mud-splattered theology — Atlantis even pops up early on, though it looks like the show’s wisely skipping that bit for now. Perhaps “Rise of the Merlin” just sounds snappier than “Atlantis and the Peculiar Baby Who Would One Day Advise a King.”
Will it be a revelation or a relic? Too soon to say, but the trailer looks suitably epic, with an orchestral swell big enough to summon the Lady of the Lake herself. And honestly, we at SFcrowsnest are just relieved it’s not another modern reboot where Arthur’s a motorcycle courier in Croydon and Merlin runs a vape shop.
So, gather your courage, your goblet, and perhaps a mild tolerance for mythic melodrama. The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin may just conjure a bit of that old-school, sword-swinging magic — or at least give us a solid excuse to shout “It’s only a flesh wound!” at the telly again.
