The Pendragon Cycle

Unrated • Daily Wire+

Conservative media company The Daily Wire is known for political news and commentary, Matt Walsh’s deadpan but scathing documentaries, and some entertainment options—if you count Jordan Peterson’s parenting series as entertainment. But if you’re looking to escape the 24/7 news cycle with an epic fantasy adventure, you have to flip the channel to HBO Max, Disney, or Netflix, right?

Not so fast with the remote. The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin, based on Stephen R. Lawhead’s historical fantasy books, is a spellbinding new live-action TV series on Daily Wire+ that matches the major streaming platforms’ best productions in visuals and storytelling—but with less objectionable content than fantasy sagas like the ever-popular Game of Thrones and its many spinoffs and knockoffs. Jeremy Boreing, who co-founded The Daily Wire in 2015 with Ben Shapiro and served as co-CEO until last year, directs The Pendragon Cycle and is one of its writers. Lawhead is credited as an executive producer.

Like Lawhead’s novels, the TV series is a retelling of the Arthurian legend, not during the High Medieval Age of armor-clad knights, but in the wake of Rome’s occupation of Britain. The book series’ first installment Taliesin won the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s Gold Medallion Award for Fiction in 1988. WORLD received early access to the show’s first two episodes, which are based on Taliesin and set the stage for the account of Merlin’s rise.

The show opens in the fourth century A.D. on the Island of the Mighty, the ancient Welsh name for Britain. A spiritual darkness overshadows the land, but the seeds of Christianity are beginning to take root. The first two episodes focus on the intertwining stories of the fierce Atlantean princess Charis (Rose Reid) and pagan Celtic bard Taliesin (James Arden). Flashbacks detail Charis’ tumultuous allegiance to the bull-god Bel and how she saved a remnant of her people when a volcano destroyed Atlantis. Her bravery and wisdom continue to protect Atlanteans in their new home in Britain. Taliesin, the adopted son of King Elphin (Duran Fulton Brown), sings enchanting ballads and wields otherworldly powers. When their peoples come into conflict over ­territory, Charis’ scheming younger sister Morgain (Emree Franklin) initiates her own play for power through the bloody sacrifice of a newborn foal. Charis and Taliesin both encounter two itinerant Christian priests who begin to challenge their worldviews.

“There is a new power at work in the world,” Taliesin tells Morgain. “A God who does not ask us to sacrifice what we love but who sacrifices what He loves for us.” At times, Taliesin’s take on faith has elements of mysticism, but such wouldn’t be unusual for that era.

The sets of The Pendragon Cycle are richly decorated, and the acting is top-notch. Breathtaking valleys and seascapes stretch across the screen, but the towering, pointed, snowcapped peaks look very out of place for that part of the world—indeed, the show was filmed in Italy and Hungary. Topographical liberties don’t constitute material unsuitable for younger children, but some frightening and gory images do. Also, Charis and other female characters are frequently garbed in revealing clothing. Not to justify the sensuality, but it might be worth pointing out that the original Arthurian legends contain problematic sexual content, too.