Charlie Hunnam is playing King Arthur in Guy Ritchie’s new movie series. Check out a first-look image showing Hunnam in costume!
Guy Ritchie is working on a King Arthur movie for Warner Bros., which could potentially turn into a seven-part series.
In the first movie, titled Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur, Charlie Hunnam will take on the iconic role of Arthur Pendragon, the mythical warrior king of Camelot.
Entertainment Weekly has given us our first look at the new Arthur, depicted in these gorgeous stills holding his famous sword Excalibur.
EW recently paid a visit to the set, where they spoke to Guy Ritchie about his take on the popularized myths surrounding King Arthur, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table.
Speaking about past incarnations of the titular character, Ritchie said, “I think where the pitfall has often been is trying to make King Arthur bland and nice, and nice and bland.”
He went on to offer an interesting comparison to another popular franchise. “The two qualities make rather compatible bed companions. Unfortunately, they’re not interesting to watch. Luke Skywalker was always the most uninteresting character in Star Wars because he’s the good guy. Good guys are boring,” Ritchie proclaimed.
While Ritchie is right to say that King Arthur is traditionally viewed as a noble, righteous soul (he is, after all, the embodiment of medieval chivalry in British folklore), there have actually been several recent re-tellings of the legends that depict Arthur in a less than perfect light.
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Clive Owen’s Arthur, as seen in the 2004 drama King Arthur, was a dark, conflicted and a somewhat reluctant hero. The Arthur in the short-lived Camelot (played by Jamie Campbell Bower) was younger, and therefore more selfish and unpolished, and of course Merlin‘s King Arthur — while ultimately heroic — was depicted as both arrogant and stubborn, and certainly not the sharpest tool in the treasure chest.
All the same, it sounds like Charlie Hunnam’s King Arthur will be even less likeable and more edgy than previous incarnations of the character.
As Hunnam explains to EW, “He’s a little bit rough around the edges, but he’s basically a survivor. He’s a hustler. There’s definitely a harder edge to him than people would imagine.”
Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur hits cinemas in exactly one year, opening on July 22, 2016
The movie also stars Astrid Bergès-Frisbey (Guinevere), Jude Law (Vortigern), Eric Bana (Uther Pendragon), and Djimon Hounsou (Sir Bedivere).