The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is an American historical fantasy television series created for DailyWire+. Based on the book series The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen R. Lawhead, namely the first two books Taliesin (1987) and Merlin (1988), the series is a retelling of Arthurian legend set in Roman Britain and especially its original milieu, Sub-Roman Britain. It premiered on January 22, 2026.
Contents
Premise
The series follows Merlin, the immortal son of the bard Taliesin and Atlantean Princess Charis, chronicling his tragic upbringing, descent into madness and shocking disappearance that lead to the legend that surrounds him. Set before King Arthur's birth, Merlin, assumed dead or a myth, reemerges in Sub-Roman Britain to unite the fractured kingdoms under threat from Saxon invaders.
Cast
Tom Sharp as Merlin
Rose Reid as Charis
James Arden as Taliesin
Emree Franklin as Morgian
Finney Cassidy as Aurelius
Myles Clohessy as Uther
Brett Cooper as Ganieda
Alex Laurence Phillips as Pelleas
Colin Cunningham as Vortigern
Nicholas Boulton as Morcant
Daniel Fathers as Avallach
Thor Rosland as Hengist
Chick Allan as Gorlas
Production
Development
In November 2022, The Daily Wire announced its intention to produce an adaptation of the series. In July 2023, it was announced that The Daily Wire Co-CEO Jeremy Boreing would be taking a leave of absence from the company, to co-direct the series. It was also revealed that the series would source its filming and production in Italy and Hungary, and would premiere on DailyWire+. Boreing stated that the production's budget was least $1 million per episode, and at least $10 million overall for the whole season. In June 2026, Semafor reported that the show had cost a total of $50 million in total.
Casting
In September 2023, British actor Tom Sharp was announced to have been cast in the series' lead role as Merlin, as filming began in Europe. Executive Producer Dallas Sonnier recalled Sharp independently auditioned for the title role “To discover Tom Sharp off of a casting tape that was self-submitted without an agent, direct to us, and to find a future movie star out of nowhere is such a cool thing”.
Following Tom Sharp's casting, the remaining main cast were later revealed - Rose Reid as Charis, James Arden as Taliesin, Emree Franklin as Morgian, Finney Cassidy as Aurelius, Myles Clohessy as Uther, Brett Cooper as Ganieda and Alex Laurence Phillips as Pelleas. Additionally cast in the series are Colin Cunningham as Vortigern, Nicholas Boulton as Morcant, Daniel Fathers as Avallach, Thor Rosland as Hengist and Chick Allan as Gorlas.
Filming
Filming took place from September to December 2023 in Budapest, Trento, Priverno (at the Fossanova Abbey), in the Gran Sasso d'Italia mountains and at the Cinecittà film studio.
Release
The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin premiered on January 22, 2026, consisting of seven episodes.
In late July 2026, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin was released on Amazon Prime Video in Europe, rising to become the #4 fantasy TV series in the UK, and among the top ten in Portugal and Spain.Its 1 September release in the United States was met with immediate success; a week after its release, it was the #3 TV show on Amazon Prime and #4 out of all content, including movies.
Reception
In a positive review, Ed Power for The Telegraph called the show "a cheery, cheesy series" that was "doomed to be shunned by the very audience it so desperately wants to win over." Roger Avary praised the series comparing it with John Boorman's film Excalibur and against other fantasy shows like The Rings of Power, claiming if you can "get over" the show creators' political standing "it's as good as classic television." The series received praise from TV Fanatic and Giant Freakin Robot, with the latter positively comparing it to Game of Thrones.
A less favourable review from Josh Rosenberg for Esquire panned the series as "terrible" and "simply incomprehensible" and referred to it as a "discount Game of Thrones". This was rebutted by Giant Freakin Robot, whose author, Jennifer Asencio, made it very clear Rosenberg had only watched one episode of the show. However, the Esquire review is the only one that appears on Rotten Tomatoes, misleading visitors of the aggregation site by omitting rebuttals and positive reviews. The show has no Tomatometer score from Rotten Tomatoes, despite having a Popcornmeter score of 84%.
