By now, you have all heard about the upsetting news that series 5 will be the last one for Merlin. While I am sure most of us were expecting this to be the case, I am absolutely devastated about this for many reasons, a few of which I have described below.

First and foremost, the fans should have had more notice. I have only been watching this show for a few years now, and my time in this fandom has been amazing, to say the least. Merlin fans are incredibly passionate about the show, and everyone is so eager to discuss it and share their love with other fans. Our investment in this show runs deep: while this includes everything from buying all the DVDs to writing fanfiction or creating amazing artwork, this show also speaks to us on a personal level. For me, this show has been the one I know I can watch whenever I feel upset or am just having a bad day. With all of the fan dedication, why were we only told about this final series with only four episodes left? The BBC should have marketed this as the final series (like The CW did with Smallville) – this way, fans could have had the opportunity to come to terms with this announcement and expect things to come to a great conclusion in 13 episodes.

In my opinion, four episodes of Merlin is not enough time to wrap this show up for good. I don’t know about all of you, but I feel that there are so many unresolved issues. How on earth will Mordred turn evil? How is Gwen going to be dealt with? When will Arthur find out about Merlin? Will he actually accept magic in such a short time? How are Arthur and Merlin going to achieve peace in Albion together? These unanswered questions have the potential to be so great to witness on television if they were focused on properly, but in four episodes, I honestly don’t know how these will be answered to my satisfaction.

Unfortunately, the official statements from the cast and the BBC do not hint at any potential movies, which is something the producers teased might be in the works. It would have been nice to have these movies to look forward to, but one would think that if these were actually going to be produced, the news would have been announced with the final series announcement. I, for one, was holding out hope for these to be made so that the story and characters could still continue. The news of a Merlin movie would actually almost make up for this late final season announcement, but because the official statement makes no reference to this, I do not think it looks promising.

It all goes back to this: we should have known sooner.

I love this show – I really do. I am just not happy with the way the final season has been announced. Here’s hoping the last four episodes tie up the story well!

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