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Season 1
- Iain De Caestecker ( Agents of SHIELD ) as Arthur Pendragon
- Stuart Campbell as Derfel Cadarn
- Ellie James as Nimueh
- Steven Elder as Bishop Bedwin
- Valene Kane as Morgan
- Simon Merrells ( Spartacus: War of the Damned ) as Gundleus
- Ken Nwosu as Sagramor
- Olumide Olorunfemi as Lunete
- Billy Postlethwaite as Cadwys
- Daniel Ings as Owain
- Nathaniel Martello-White as Merlin
- Eddie Marsan ( Hancock ) as High King Uther
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 1]
Shown 20 Aug 23
Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker - Agents of SHIELD ) is victorious, but his brother dies in battle. Their father, Uther Pendragon (Eddie Marsan - Hancock ), blames Arthur and wants to execute him. Merlin intercedes, and arranges Arthur to be exiled instead.
Most of the episode follows a supporting character, a weird-looking albino-type boy named Derful who Arthur saves and delivers to Merlin. The boy is raised at Avalon, which is more like a hippy commune than a pre-Xian pagan community. This, along with the anachronistically modern vocabulary, is far more jarring than the fact that Merlin looks like a heterosexual version of Nuti Gatwa in Dr Who .
The grown-up albino boy gets a job at Uther's castle. This allows him to spy on the guests - the rival tribe who left him for dead as a child. Since Arthur has been sidelined, it seems the main plot will be about the albino's revenge.
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 2]
Shown 27 Aug 23
Uther Pendragon (Eddie Marsan - Hancock ) dies, leaving baby Mordred as his heir. Gundleus (Simon Merrells - Spartacus: War of the Damned ) visits Avalon to see the baby.
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 3]
Shown 10th September 2023
Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker - Agents of SHIELD ) returns home.
Nimue wants to murder Gundleus (Simon Merrells - Spartacus: War of the Damned ) in revenge for what he did to her. She pulls Derful into her plot.
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 4]
Shown 17th September 2023
Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker - Agents of SHIELD ) sends his friend Owain out to gather taxes. Derful goes along to help out. They plan to outsmart a local chieftain who has been reluctant to pay taxes. However, the chieftain talks them into taking all the risks and faking an attack on a neighbour's mine.
In reality, taxation was not a big thing until the Domesday Book of 1086. Before then, vassals usually paid their feudal liege lords in manual service and food rather than coinage.
Meanwhile, Arthur and his sister Morgan ( Valene Kane ) visit their mother's smithy. Yes, she was a blacksmith - a strange choice of profession, unless she had a man's upper body strength ... or inherited it, like the girl smith in The Knight's Tale . Arthur discovers a magic sword there.
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 5]
Shown 24th September 2023
Derful spared a child at the mine, which means there is an eyewitness. Tristan accuses Owain of the massacre, which would have no real standing in a jury court. Instead, Tristan challenges him to trial by combat. Since Owain is clearly the better fighter, Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker - Agents of SHIELD ) takes it upon himself to be Tristan's champion.
This is not all just for Tristan's benefit. Arthur wants an alliance with the uncle of Gundleus, and has invited him to Mordred's baptism. As well as the Xian ceremony, they have Morgan ( Valene Kane ) conduct a human sacrifice. Luckily there is a Saxon spy in the area.
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 6]
Shown 8th October 2023
Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker - Agents of SHIELD ) takes the next step in his alliance with Gundlaeus' uncle. He proposes marriage to the uncle's daughter. This brings him into contact with Guinevere, the daughter's lady in waiting. As with Merlin , this version of Guinevere is Black. However, what is really interesting is the story setup. The classic tale has her cheating on Arthur with Lancelot. Now it is a different love triangle, which could be easily sorted with a menage-a-trois.
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 7]
Shown 15th October 2023
Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker - Agents of SHIELD ) takes his entourage to meet his new bride-to-be. However, he has fallen in love with her handmaid Guinevere.
Guinevere does not want to live a life of luxury as a Mistress, or have a fulfilling career as a wife. She wants to be a Thoroughly Modern Millie. Will she and Arthur come to an arrangement?
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 8]
Shown 22nd October 2023
Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker - Agents of SHIELD ) discovers that Guinevere's favourite position is cowgirl - like Lagertha in Vikings . The bad news is that he has to live with ALL the consequences of his actions in the previous episode, including the negative ones. Basically his round-table alliance seems to be falling apart.
One King has seized his neighbour's mine, and has permanently annexed land that belongs to Dumnonia. Of course, Arthur must take care of this personally. He leaves Morgan ( Valene Kane ) in charge, and Derful is ordered to protect her.
The other King has named the compensation he desires, so Morgan goes to negotiate with him personally. This one is far more subtle than the land-stealer, and has clearly got something terrible in mind.
The Xian priest who wed Arthur and Guinevere has taken some land to build his new church. Nimue issues his followers a very specific threat, which then comes true. Of course, the show has already established that she is a vengeful witch who is skilled at poisoning.
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 9]
Shown 29th October 2023
Derfel investigates the case of the poisoned Xians. He discovers that they all drank from a certain well, and there happensd to be a dead sheep in it. He assumes the sheep fell in of its own accord, when it could have been dumped there by Nimue. However, if we embrace a modern-day concept of innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt then she deserves the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately it is too late, because she has been taken to the Island of Punishment.
The Winter King (2023) [Season 1, Episode 10]
Shown 05 Nov 23
Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker - Agents of SHIELD ) and Guinevere go to negotiate with Aelle and the Saxons.
Derfel follows Nimue to the Island of Punishment. Like the bodies in Jeepers Creepers , the victims are dumped down a hatch into the underground. It turns out that the island contains a network of tunnels, a former mine dug centuries earlier by the Romans. King Uther inherited it as a prison, and ordered the entrances sealed up. Now the inmates have become Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers.
The episode ties up one of the plot threads. However, the other one is left intact so that the show is primed for a second Season that never arrived.
