Introduction

The Winter King is a British historical fiction television series based on Bernard Cornwell’s trilogy of novels The Warlord Chronicles, starring Iain De Caestecker as Arthur Pendragon.

The series premiered on MGM+ in the United States on 20 August 2023 and premiered on ITVX in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2023.

Outline

The series acts as a retelling of the Arthurian legends and takes place in Post-Roman Dark Age Britain, where the warlord Arthur Pendragon has been banished while Saxons invade and a child-king sits unprotected on the throne.

Cast

• Main:
  • Iain De Caestecker as Arthur Pendragon, the illegitimate son of King Uther, an exiled warlord who returns to Britain.
  • Stuart Campbell as Derfel Cadarn, a Saxon warrior and disciple of Arthur. Though he sees Arthur’s flaws, he recognizes greatness and knows that Arthur is the only hope for Britain. Jordan Dark portrays a young Derfel.
  • Ellie James as Nimue, a pagan priestess at Avalon who was saved by Merlin and claims to see the Gods. Lucy Allix portrays a young Nimue.
  • Steven Elder as Bedwin, the Bishop of Caer Cadarn, advisor to the king of Dumnonia and one of Mordred’s three protectors.
  • Valene Kane as Morgan, Arthur’s half-sister and another bastard child of King Uther. She is a sharp-tongued and independent-minded pagan and student of Merlin.
  • Simon Merrells as Gundleus, king of the Dumnonia’s rival kingdom Siluria and one of Mordred’s three protectors. Imposing and savage, Gundleus is prepared to slaughter whoever he needs to secure power.
  • Ken Nwosu as Sagramor, a fierce Numidian from Africa Nova and veteran of the old Roman army who has followed Arthur to Britain after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
  • Olumide Olorunfemi as Lunete, a close friend of Derfel and Nimue.
  • Billy Postlethwaite as Cadwys, the warrior-king of Isca.
  • Daniel Ings as Owain, the champion of Dumnonia who is an experienced but dishonest veteran warrior and one of Mordred’s three protectors.
  • Nathaniel Martello-White as Merlin, a politician, powerful, enlightened, and absolute. Fearless in the face of a King’s wrath, he follows his connection to his Gods in all things.
  • Eddie Marsan as Uther, High King of all Dumnonia. Old and battle-tested, he commands incredible authority, over almost all, bar Merlin.
  • Tatjana Nardone as Ladwys, a pagan warrior and Gundleus’ lover.
  • Andrew Gower as Sansum, loosely based on the Cornish saint Samson of Dol, a Catholic priest and later a Bishop. He is described as unsympathetic and intriguing.
  • Matt Mella as Lanval, a proud warrior sworn to Arthur.
    • Despite appearing in every episode, Mella is only credited amongst the main cast for the third, fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth episodes.
  • Aneirin Hughes as Gorfydd, the ruthless king of Powys.
  • Gabriel Tierney as Tristan, prince of Kernow and edling to its throne.
    • Tierney is only credited amongst the main cast for the fifth episode.
  • Jordan Alexandra as Guinevere, Ceinwyn’s closest friend and Arthur’s future wife. She is a hard, ambitious woman who craves power and high social status.
  • Emily John as Ceinwyn, Gorfydd’s daughter and the princess of Powys.
  • Craig Parkinson as Aelle, king of the Saxons

• Recurring:
  • Grace Ackary as Norwenna, the young wife of Uther, and mother of his son Mordred.
  • Sagar Arya as Tewdric, king of Gwent.
  • Enoch Frost as Ligessac, Captain of Uther’s guards.
  • Sifiso Mazibuko as Hywel, Lunete’s father.
  • Charlie Duncan as Ralla, a pagan living at Avalon and Culwyn’s husband.
  • Gwion Morris Jones as Culwyn, a pagan living at Avalon and Ralla’s wife.

Production

Development

On 22 April 2022, Sony Pictures Television announced that their recently acquired production company Bad Wolf were adapting The Winter King, the first book in Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Trilogy, into a 10-part series for British television. The series was developed for television by Kate Brooke and Ed Whitmore, premiering in 2023 on ITVX, the upcoming streaming platform from UK broadcaster ITV. Other writers include Nessah Muthy. Lachlan Mackinnon and Catrin Lewis Defis is producing. American cable network MGM+ was at one point adapting The Warlord Trilogy with Bad Wolf but is no longer involved. Otto Bathurst will be the lead director, with additional episodes directed by Farren Blackburn.

Filming

Aske Alexander Foss will serve as lead Director of Photography shooting blocks 1 & 3 with Stephan Pehrsson shooting block 2. The series will shoot in Wales and the West Country in the second half of 2022. In July 2022, the Tropiquaria Zoo in Watchet, Somerset was used as a base for filming within a 5 mile (8.0 km) radius of the Watchet wildlife park and aquarium. A set has been built next to a former Wye Valley quarry near Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales.

This drama will also be filmed in Bristol on a temporary film set with a fortified encampment at Patchway Studios off Highwood Road in Patchway Trading Estate. The set will mainly be a ‘rocky canyon’ structure made up of prefabricated polyurethane foam panels on scaffolding. The filming operation would vary between 70 and 150 cast and crew across 70 days between July 2022 and January 2023. The series is supported by The Bristol Film Office.

On 15 September 2022, filming took place in Wiltshire and near Bradford on Avon in South West England. Local Bristol media reported on 30 September that parts of the Blaise Castle Estate in Henbury have been cordoned off as a filming location for this television drama. A specific area of Blaise Castle grounds have been transformed into a village with sets being built. On 11 October 2022, the filming moved to The Brabazon Hangars/Filton Airfield north of Bristol.

Trivia

• The Winter King is a British historical fiction television series based on Bernard Cornwell’s The Warlord Chronicles novels written as a mixture of historical fiction and Arthurian legend.
• Derfel, known as Derfel Gadarn , was a 6th-century Celtic Christian monk regarded as a saint in medieval Welsh poetry and reported to be one of the warriors of King Arthur, though not listed as a Knight of the Round Table, of which the figure may range from a dozen to as many as potentially (the number of seats at the table) 1,600, the latter claimed by Layamon in his “Brut”.
• Morgan’s appearance differs significantly from the source material, in the original novels she is scarred from being in a fire and wears a golden mask to cover it.
• Horsemen are depicted using stirrups, which were not introduced into Europe until a century after the time of the Arthurian legend.

The Winter King Series

• Series 01 (2023):
  • Episode 01.
  • Episode 02.
  • Episode 03.
  • Episode 04.
  • Episode 05.
  • Episode 06.
  • Episode 07.
  • Episode 08.
  • Episode 09.
  • Episode 10.

• Series 02 (?2024):

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Otto Bathurst … (4 episodes, 2023)
  • Farren Blackburn … (4 episodes, 2023)
  • Anu Menon … (2 episodes, 2023)
• Producer(s):
  • Otto Bathurst … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Kate Brooke … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Kenneth Browning … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Shelley Browning … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Catrin Lewis Defis … producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Julie Gardner … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Toby Leslie … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Lachlan MacKinnon … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Sherry Marsh … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Jane Tranter … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Ed Whitmore … executive producer (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Medyr Llewelyn … line producer (6 episodes, 2023)
  • Simon Morris … line producer (4 episodes, 2023)
• Writer(s):
  • Kate Brooke … (adapted for television by) (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Kate Brooke … (written by) (8 episodes, 2023)
  • Bernard Cornwell … (based on ‘The Winter King’ by) (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Loren Mclaughlan … (written by) (1 episode, 2023)
  • Nessah Muthy … (written by) (1 episode, 2023)
  • Amy Roberts … (written by) (1 episode, 2023)
  • Ed Whitmore … (adapted for television by) (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Ed Whitmore … (written by) (8 episodes, 2023)
• Music:
  • Rob Lane … (10 episodes, 2023)
  • Enrica Sciandrone … (1 episode, 2023)
• Cinematography:
  • Aske Foss … (6 episodes, 2023)
  • Stephan Pehrsson … (4 episodes, 2023)
• Editor(s):
  • Philip Kloss … (4 episodes, 2023)
  • David Freeman … (3 episodes, 2023)
  • Tommy Boulding … (2 episodes, 2023)
  • Malcolm Crowe … (2 episodes, 2023)
• Production:
  • Bad Wolf
  • One Big Picture
• Distributor(s):
  • ITVX (United Kingdom, 2023)(VOD, video)
  • MGM+ (United States, 2023)(VOD, video)
  • Sony Pictures Television (World-wide)
  • Stan (Australia, 2023)(VOD, video)
• Release Date:
  • Series 01: 20 August 2023 to 05 November 2023 (US) and 21 December 2023 (UK)
  • Series 02: ?2024
• Running Time: 60 minutes.
• Rating: Unknown.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link(s)