In November 2022, the Daily Wire announced that it had obtained the rights to dramatize Steven Lawhead’s “The Pendragon Cycle”, about a year before they announced a $100 million investment in a streaming platform for children. Lawhead is a favorite author of mine, and while I don’t swear to have read every book he has written, I have a special place in my heart for the Song of Albion trilogy and the Dragon King trilogy. It has been many years since I read the Pendragon Cycle, so I was curious, at minimum, to see what would become of this dramatization.
Before I get into the actual show, I think it is important to note that many conservatives, including those who own the Daily Wire, have witnessed twith alarm the consequences of allowing progressive ideologues to control the stories that shape our culture. In particular, over the past decade Disney delved deeply into the Woke agenda while simultaneously obtaining ownership over significant IP such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones (Lucas Films), Toy Story and Cars (Pixar), and Avengers and X-men (Marvel). So not only did Daily Wire sense the need for an alternative media that would stop treating normies like garbage simply because normies believe in things like God, family, and (real) science, but they also sensed that Disney was stumbling badly.
The Pendragon Cycle is Daily Wire’s most ambitious project to date. Jeremy Boering stepped down as CEO in order to produce the project, and online estimates suggest that between production and advertising, about 27 million dollars has been spent to make and promote the series. On January 22nd, it began airing exclusively on the Daily Wire + app and to date there are 4 episodes available to stream. The Pendragon Cycle is Arthurian legend infused with Celtic lore, making it a historical fantasy. There are 2 parts to this review, because the show itself needs reviewed, but then I think it is worth thinking through the show’s place in the development of alternative media entertainment.
The Show Itself
Let me start with the good. The show takes the source material seriously. One reason why Disney has received so much hate is because its showrunners have so often hated the source material. Even shows like Netflix’s The Witcher angered most of the audience by failing to care at all about the source material (of which I am unfamiliar, but I sympathize with fans of any original IP who endure the desecration of a treasured story). If you don’t like the source material, don’t sign on to that project. Peter Jackson’s LoTR trilogy, while adapting and altering some of the original material, didn’t invite invective because Peter Jackson clearly loved the source material. Likewise, I believe that Jeremy Boering wanted to be true to the work of Lawhead, and I appreciate that a lot.
Secondly, the show takes itself seriously. I have seen enough Netflix or Prime “original” movies to know when a reasonably good actor is just phoning it in. That doesn’t happen in the Pendragon cycle. And there are some good actors in this production. You can also tell that the whole crew is really trying and that it matters to them, which is pretty refreshing. Along with the performances, the scenes, costumes, and visuals are all sincere, though at times a little lacking.
Unfortunately, sincerity isn’t quite enough. Everything comes up short as a result of severe pacing problems that leave the viewer alternately disoriented or bored. The problem is that the books are spread across lands and generations, and the show attempts to cover it all in just a few episodes. Imagine Lord of the Rings trilogy being reduced to an hour where everything still happens. Boromir would have died, but no one would have cared. The ring would have been destroyed, but…no one would have cared.
(Spoilers ahead)
Pendragon Cycle unfolds so quickly that I didn’t have time to even care about Taliesin before he was killed, at which point I really didn’t care about him. There were some really good scenes of Charis and Taliesin battling for their souls with the gods, but this dynamic battle for souls received only intermittent scenes that didn’t cohere into an impactful part of the plot. The Christ-God who undergirds the entire theme of the books feels more like an add-on to the real story. It is hard to know why some scenes are dragged out and then entire time periods are skipped over. Because the scenes are already haphazard, flashbacks don’t work very well. At one point I searched google to make sure I hadn’t accidentally skipped an entire episode.
And because of this pacing problem, the acting can come across poorly. The characters have to progress through personal arcs in fast forward. In 2 episodes, James Ardin (Taliesin) has to move from a tortured mystic to a love struck lad, and from a druid to a Christian, and from the hope of his people to a corpse, all while singing with such beauty that he captures the hearts of his people. And you know, that’s just kinda hard man. In the words of Dylan, “that’s just too many men’s shoes to wear”. Ok, I made that up. But it sounds like something Dylan might have sung.
Because so much has to happen so quickly, the investment in world-building is a bit wasted. It takes time to build Atlantis into a substantive place in the viewer’s mind. If you haven’t read the books, you would be hard pressed to know why Charis had been estranged from her father, or why she is called her people’s Savior, or why her father is called the Fisher King, and why is he so darn short? It’s all a bit of a muddle that makes sense if you have read the books (except his height), but is confusing if you haven’t. A show like this can only (in my opinion) build an audience and an impact if the proper amount of time is taken to build the stories, and there are too many characters moving too quickly for that to happen.
More Than the Show
But….is the show a failure in a larger, strategic sense? I suppose that depends on what Daily Wire was hoping to accomplish. If they thought the Pendragon Cycle would be broadly culturally significant, I think they are going to be disappointed. I don’t think references to this series are going to make it into the cultural vocabulary. I don’t think that it will generate energy outside of the Daily Wire’s present audience in such a way that lots and lots of people are going to subscribe to the app. I love the books, but I’m not loving the show such that I am texting my buddies and telling them that they have to watch this show. I don’t think anyone else is, either.
If Daily Wire thought that Pendragon would rival Game of Thrones, they must be disappointed. If they thought that alternative media would gain instant credibility, then they were wrong. If they thought DailyWire+ would become an instant competitor to Netflix or Prime, they were out of their minds. If they pinned their hopes, dreams, and nest egg on this one show then it is a failed experiment.
But as a first try it’s really good. As a stepping stone to future projects, Pendragon Cycle has real potential to yield fruit. Aspects of the show are moving and impactful. Genuinely good actors will work with alternative media. A non-studio can film beautiful cinema. Passion for source material does come through. Did it all come together (so far, anyways) in the Pendragon Cycle? No, it didn’t. But it could have, and that’s an incredible thought.
Forgive me for a minute while I digress. I remember the truly terrible “Christian” movies they made in the 90’s. Bad acting. Bad dialogue. The plots were really just structures in which to contain a message that was often rudimentary. But then I went and watched the David movie and I was genuinely impressed. Sure, that was animated, but I don’t think it would have existed without the lessons learned along the way. Smaller platforms (or are they studios?) can compete against the leviathans that are out there, especially as Netflix and Prime degrade the quality of film work.
So back to Pendragon. The way the Daily Wire talked about it I think they must have been really hoping for something exceptional, and I think what they got was bits and pieces of exceptional. Can they use that to make the next thing, until one day we look back on Pendragon as the genesis of this alternative ideological story-telling? Maybe. It’s at least possible.
While I won’t be telling my friends that this is the show that they must watch, I am telling them, since they’re the only ones who read my blog, that if we want future excellence, we’d better support what we have now. It may be flawed, but it is also entertaining and won’t rot your brain. Shoot, now that I think about it, it probably is better than anything Netflix has come up with in a decade. So go watch it.
Nathan Writes 