Cursed, Frank Miller and Thomas Wheeler’s new book about the legend of King Arthur from the Lady of the Lake’s perspective, won’t be out until spring 2019 – but an adaptation is already on its way to Netflix.
The Lady of the Lake and Arthur in the painting Idyls of the King by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale. Image: Wikipedia
Though the book itself was just announced last week, Deadline reports the streaming service has given the property a 10-episode order. Miller and Wheeler will illustrate and write the novel simultaneously while working on the show, which will allow them to “explore the characters from the book in more detail on screen”. (Which doesn’t make a lot of sense, since books are almost always more in depth than their adaptations… but that’s what Deadline says.)
As we reported last week, Cursed follows Nimue, the teenage girl who wields the legendary sword Excalibur before Arthur and eventually becomes the Lady of the Lake, a character who has a major impact on the history of Arthurian legend. So basically it’s a prequel that’s also a side story to the classic tales from a young, female perspective.
“I have always been entranced by the mythological Arthur story – and by Nimue, in particular,” Miller said last week. “It can be interpreted in any number of ways – from a delightful children’s story, as in The Sword in the Stone, to a terrifying interpretation like Excalibur.”
No release date has been announced, but since Cursed the book won’t be out until late 2019, don’t expect the show till at least then either.
[Deadline]