Patrick Stewart Plays Merlin in The Kid Who Would Be King

Patrick Stewart was best known for playing Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies. Avengers: Doomsday will mark his final on-screen role and his last appearance as the X-Men’s telepathic leader. Another Stewart performance deserves a place alongside Picard and Xavier: the wizard Merlin in The Kid Who Would Be King.

The film follows middle school student Alex Elliot (Louis Ashbourne Serkis), whose life changes when he finds a mysterious sword at a construction site. The sword is Excalibur, once wielded by King Arthur. By picking it up, Alex incurs the wrath of Arthur’s half-sister, the sorceress Morgana le Fay (Rebecca Ferguson). With help from Merlin and a group of unlikely knights, Alex sets out to defeat Morgana and save Britain.

The Kid Who Would Be King offers a strong take on Arthurian lore, with much of its appeal coming from Stewart’s performance.

Patrick Stewart gave The Kid Who Would Be King gravity

The film stands apart from other King Arthur stories by reworking or sidestepping familiar elements of the legend. Alex believes he can wield Excalibur because his father was said to be “fighting demons.” A later revelation helps Alex recognize his own self-worth.

Merlin’s presence, however, draws on tradition, including his ability to change forms. He can appear as an old man one moment and a teenager the next. Whenever Stewart is on screen, his commanding presence makes him convincing as the wizard.

Stewart had appeared in an Arthurian film before. In the dark fantasy Excalibur, which adapts Arthur’s reign and death, he played Leongdrance, the former king whose daughter Guinevere eventually marries Arthur. It is a small but important part, and Stewart brings a Shakespearean bearing to it.

Joe Cornish, the director of The Kid Who Would Be King, said Stewart wanted to play a more down-to-earth Merlin, partly to distinguish his performance from that of his lifelong friend Ian McKellen as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.

“He was very keen not to play the conventional wizard because all his friends play wizards. [Laughs] He just hangs out with a bunch of guys that play wizards the whole time! So, his stipulation was, ‘Well, if I’m going to do this, it has to be really different.’ And luckily it was. His performance is much more down to earth and less haughty and imperious than your other wizards.”

The Kid Who Would Be King shows Stewart’s range beyond Star Trek and X-Men, and how well he suited fantasy. The film is now on Disney+, where viewers can discover a potential cult classic.

Source: Polygon