We caught up with Merlin co-creators Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy to discuss the future of Merlin…
How will the finale of season 4 affect what happen next series?
JC: The end of season four promises to be a very, very exciting climax to this series and I think the fans will really enjoy what happens.
JM: There’s a surprising twist at the end of this series that becomes a big part of series five. It’s fair to say that a character we’ve met before returns, an evil character, and I think people can probably guess who that is.
Will there be monsters?
JM: We definitely have other monsters, in the first couple of episodes we have two new creatures and obviously we have two dragons on the scene now so that takes a very interesting turn.
JC: We’re opening again with a two-parter and season five will have lots of surprising twists and turns and I think it will go in a direction that the audience wont be expecting.
You’ve always had a five-series plan, so would you ever go beyond that?
JM: The answer to that is always the audience and the broadcaster to some extent. It’s a franchise where you could definitely keep going. It works really well, season four’s the most successful we’ve ever made. I think it’s grown into an older, more sophisticated slot. We go out now after 8pm not 6.15 and I think that suits the program. As we have got closer to the legend, the stories have inevitably got richer and more interesting and the power of that legend counts for more when Arthur becomes King and the knights of the roundtable take over. It happened because we developed our thoughts, the actors got older and the legend became richer.
JC: Also I think with high concept shows it takes a while for audiences to warm to it; when Merlin first came out we were off the back of Robin Hood and we had a perception problem of people thinking ‘oh it’s just another Robin Hood’. That Saturday night slot is very tough, you’re going up against Doctor Who which has been running for nearly 50 years, so it’s difficult to get into an audience’s awareness.
Merlin Season 4 Part One is available on DVD now. For more Merlin news, check out a future issue of SciFiNow!
More Merlin on SciFiNow
- Merlin Season 5 and beyond
- Interview with Bradley James, Merlin’s Prince Arthur
- Merlin: The Movie
- Win Merlin complete series 4 on Blu-ray
