The cast of Merlin still meet up as BBC drama gets "new lease of life" thanks to Netflix
The Knights of the Round Table have assembled once again for a new quest – enjoying a flat white
More than 10 years after it first came to TV (and nearly six since it concluded), fantasy TV series Merlin still has a lot of fans – just ask former star Eoin Macken, who played Knight of the Round Table Gwaine in the BBC drama.
“People ask me about it all the time actually,” Macken told RadioTimes.com. “Merlin's one of those shows that I think a lot of people revisit. There’s a kind of network and group of people who have been very loyal to it.”
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And the show still clearly means a lot to the cast as well, with Macken revealing that he and his fellow Knights of the Round Table (including King Arthur actor Bradley James, Rupert Young, Adetomiwa Edun and Game of Thrones’ Tom Hopper) regularly meet up to reminisce about their round table days, even all these years later.
“I'm gonna meet four of the guys from Merlin on lunch today actually, funnily enough,” Macken told us. “I'm still friends with a lot of the guys on the show.
“I'm only in London for a couple of days so we're going to come here and have coffee, all from Merlin.
“It’s just Tomiwa, Tom Hopper, Rupert and Bradley. That's a very weird coincidence that you've asked about that just as it's happening.”
Macken, who currently stars in sci-fi horror series Nightflyers on Netflix, also credited his new streaming service home for the resurgence in Merlin’s popularity, suggesting that many fans were finding it for the first time online.
“It’s funny to mention because I’m now on a Netflix show – but I think Merlin's had an extra breath of life because it went on Netflix,” he said.
“It's one of those shows that fits on Netflix very well, and got an even bigger audience.
“I know we had a big audience, but it got an even bigger audience, and a new lease of life by going on Netflix.”
And who knows? In a few years, there could be ANOTHER generation of fans still being introduced to the world of Merlin. Magic.
Nightflyers series one streams on Netflix UK from Friday 1st February
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
