The Winter King

So I love anything that has to do with King Arthur and Bernard Cornwell is one of my favorite writers so to have him do an Arthurian book series was awesome!! I love the tv version of "The Last Kingdom" by him and was really hoping this would be similar but sadly it's not even close. The creators/writers of the show either never read the books or decided to just ignore them entirely. I've watched all 5 episodes to air and every one makes me more disappointed in what could've been a great show. Outside of the fact it's very different from the books the acting, writing, casting, and overall production is just bad. Only gave it a 5 cause I love the legend and original books so much.

The Warlord Chronicles are among my favourite books, having read them a number of times. Whilst this adaptation captures some of the key elements of the first book, there is still much that is missing, particularly a heart to the story.

This is made to be Arthur's story rather than Derfel's. Consequently the complexities and nuances of certain relationships between characters are lost, particularly through the role of Merlin. This makes the production less interesting than it could otherwise have been.

World building is also a bit lacklustre and the sense of scale is lost by putting characters on horseback, a very noticeable shift in the story. Thus we lose some of the grit and realism of battles that came through the book (where are the shield walls?) and could have made for a compelling adaptation, rather just giving us something that we've seen before.

The adaptation also seeks to reflect "the world we live in today" through both its casting choices and the way in which certain characters are written. This works in some respects, but doesn't in others which is ultimately to the detriment of the show.

I've watched through the whole of series 1 and whilst I found it watchable, as a long time fan of the books, i felt this was an opportunity missed.

The Winter King is even better than I expected would be. It tells the story of how of former monk turned warrior, Arthur Pendragon, became known as King Arthur and the lord of war. My only hesitation was that the role of Arthur went to Iain De Caestecker who I only knew from Agents of Shield. His character in that was more of a nerdy scientist so I thought I would have a hard time buying him as Arthur. I was wrong. He is terrific as the lead here. Actually, the entire cast is great here except for the actress who plays Nimue. She's awful and badly written. If you're a fan of this story and King Arthur then this will not disappoint. It's a must watch for any Arthur fan.

I have to say that I've been looking forward to The Winter King ever since I first heard about it. I love these kind of shows, this genre is definitely one of my favorites. When I first heard about this I was excited but once I saw the trailers my expectations grew even more. While it might not be quite as good as I was hoping for it's still pretty good and worth the time to watch it. It might start a little slow for some but stick with it because it picks up in a hurry and you won't be able to stop watching. I didn't think Ian De Caestecker would be able to pull off the role of Arthur but he does. He's actually the best of the show. Besides the acting and writing being pretty good, the visuals are also good. I hope that we get multiple seasons of this.

It's hard to quantify why this show doesn't work. Certainly the historical inaccuracies turned me off, especially the language - who in the fifth century asks, "Gotta minute?"

But it's way more than that - mediocre acting, uninteresting characters, a plot as slow as a soap opera, and no beauty or elegance whatsoever. I'm not really into fight and battle scenes, but I would have welcomed a few in the first episode, in place of the violent beatings and degradation it contained.

Game of Thrones has huge pluses over this show, including internal consistency, and gorgeous actors with true talent.