In the opening scene of The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin, a man wades into the streams of Britain circa fourth century AD, only to find a baby cast down the river like Bithia discovering Moses. An older man—unnamed and speaking for the first time—proclaims without context that the baby is named Taliesin. He will grow up to become a great poet of Arthurian legend. Hooray?
If the stakes feel incredibly low, it’s because the new fantasy TV series starts with the man who found the baby. He later becomes Merlin’s father. Confused? Of course you are. It’s a bizarre backtracking of the Arthurian wizard’s family tree that you couldn’t possibly pick up until the actual Merlin finally shows up two episodes later. Say what you will about the interest levels for Game of Thrones spinoffs featuring the Targaryen’s great-great-great grandparents, but this is certainly overkill. No one asked for a Taylor Sheridan-style tale of Merlin’s family tree?
The bit I’ve left out is that The Pendragon Cycle is a TV series executive-produced by right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro exclusively for DailyWire+. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s the conservative streaming outlet attached to Shapiro’s The Daily Wire news service. As “alternative” broadcasting like the “All-American Super Bowl Halftime Show” becomes the new normal for the MAGA faithful, The Pendragon Cycle is a discount Game of Thrones that retells the story of King Arthur’s most-trusted magician during the arrival of Christianity. But much like the political base’s previous efforts to provide their audiences with “anti-woke” versions of actually successful TV shows, The Pendragon Cycle is yet another example of the largest hurdle that MAGA faces in creating a Netflix for the Right. Turns out, it’s hard to find a TV creator who can make these shows watchable.
The Pendragon Cycle is created by Jeremy Boreing—the cofounder of The Daily Wire and the director of the very anti-trans sports comedy Lady Ballers. He adapted Pendragon’s story from the novels of the same name by writer Stephen R. Lawhead, with season 1 blazing through the first two books (out of six) in the series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Boreing stated that The Pendragon Cycle was “probably the most Christian piece of mainstream entertainment since Braveheart,” even though he later backtracked by adding that “it is not a piece of Christian entertainment” in the traditional sense. But true to his word, there is something deeply biblical about The Pendragon Cycle.
Much like the book of Numbers from the Old Testament, The Pendragon Cycle’s first two episodes play out like a literal genealogical list. Names, places, and signposts that signal massive time jumps like “75 years later” appear before you can even grasp who anyone is on screen. Then, when something exciting finally happens like a coliseum-set bullfight, you find yourself wondering where the series spent its alleged seven-figure (per episode!) budget if it wasn’t on the action.
Much of The Pendragon Cycle is also told to the audience as if they’re completely familiar with the source material. It wouldn’t be much of a problem if medieval fantasy wasn’t one of the most confusing genres on TV. But it is. So, when Princess Charis’s home of Atlantis is destroyed by the Bull god Bel, or when Taliesin’s face is burned to a crisp from the blinding light of the cross, there’s a lot to quickly piece together before Merlin even shows up.
“One of the biggest problems with Christian film is that there is something about being preached to or being forced into a conversation,” actress Rose Reid, who plays Charis, told The Telegraph. “Maybe there is a message, but you let the audience find that message. You don’t shove it down their throats.” Audiences might appreciate the approach, but you have to hold their hands a little through material this dense.
In a twist of fate, The Pendragon Cycle arrives just as HBO celebrates a new Game of Thrones spinoff series with near-unanimous acclaim from critics and audience alike. Titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the lighthearted series simply follows a lowly knight named Dunk who seeks to prove his worth in a jousting tournament. It raked in roughly 13 million viewers per episode, according to Variety, and a quick season 2 renewal.
The Daily Wire has yet to reveal how many people tuned in for the first season of The Pendragon Cycle, but I can’t imagine it was anywhere close. Not enough major outlets have reviewed the series for a score to even populate on Rotten Tomatoes.
Just like Kid Rock performing his hit song full of gobbledygook lyrics at a concert that started out in protest of a non-English-language singer, The Pendragon Cycle’s alternative Game of Thrones is simply incomprehensible. If your platform is anti-everything, then it seems that your TV shows can’t really excel at being pro-anything either.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.esquire.com ’
