Young gun Perth actress Katherine Langford – who copped a Golden Globe nom for her work as the lead in the first two seasons of the controversial 13 Reasons Why – returns to Netflix as the star of new series Cursed, as Deadline reports.
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The series, which has been in the streaming pipeline since March, focuses on Langford as a character from medieval lore, Nimue, the so-called ‘Lady of the Lake’.
Netflix’s logline for the series sees a grieving Nimue meeting a young King Arthur on his way to deliver an ancient sword to Merlin. She becomes a “symbol of courage and rebellion against the terrifying Red Paladins, and their complicit King Uther“.
They’re also calling it a “coming-of-age-story“, exploring pertinent themes for our time, not just the old times, “the obliteration of the natural world, religious terror, senseless war, and finding the courage to lead in the face of the impossible“.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bno8dbKF6wE/?taken-by=katherinelangford
Let’s do a brief medieval literature nerd-out: in some stories, Nimue gives Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchants Merlin, and raises Sir Lancelot after his father dies. She’s an enchantress – a a cool power bitch Nimue story is how she says she won’t love Merlin, who is super into her, until he teaches her his secrets, but actually she’d just rather he stopped being so smitten, so she traps him forever in a tree so he’ll leave her alone. Cool, huh?
This is for teens so it’s just saying that Langford’s young Nimue “has a mysterious gift” and is “destined to become the powerful (and tragic) Lady of the Lake“. As we all know, ‘tragic’ when referring to women on television usually means the victim of a rape or murder as a plot device. Here’s hoping the focus stays on her as a badass heroine instead – who even in the medieval texts was always helping Arthur (but in return for him killing the guy who killed her brother).
The series is helmed by co-creators Sin City‘s Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler, who wrote Puss in Boots. The first two eps will be directed by Zetna Fuentes, who has previously directed episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, Marvel’s Jessica Jones and Jane the Virgin.
An illustrated young adult novel is due out in spring next year through publisher Simon & Schuster, written by Wheeler and illustrated by Miller .
It’s Thursday so let’s cap this off with a picture of Langford sitting so close to Daddy Goldblum at NYFW last week surely she could smell him.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bno7oInFKWT/?taken-by=katherinelangford
