One of the big elements of the King Arthur/ Merlin mythology is that the legendary wizard ages backwards. He certainly seems to be nearly immortal in pop cultural terms, because he keeps popping up on TV shows, and in films every now again, most recently in the BBC series. Now Working Title thinks he could work his magic on the big screen once again, conjuring up a pitch from writer Jay Basu that gives the character a twist.
Ready for this one? Merlin… In the modern world! Oh, don’t look like that! Yes, there aren’t that many versions of the character that tried work in a contemporary setting (the Heat Vision blog digs up the example of short-lived Sitcom Mr Merlin, which saw The Lost Boys’ Barnard Hughes as the wizard working as a mechanic in 1980s San Francisco), and the more recent, Merlin-influenced take on The Sorcerer’s Apprentice didn’t exactly succeed on the big screen.
But the lure of the character – and his legacy – is clear, so it’s not a surprise that someone else would want to give it a shot. Working Title is, for now, keeping the rest of the details strictly hidden under its robe.
So what do you think? Can Merlin work in the modern world? Could it be magic? Do you want to pelt us with rotten fruit for that awful last line?