All 7 Episodes of an Epic Fantasy Adaptation Are Now Streaming (But There’s a Catch)

There is a new epic fantasy adaptation streaming right now with seven episodes, but there is a catch to how many people can actually watch it. When wanting to watch an epic fantasy adaptation based on popular novels, there is plenty to choose from on streaming. People with HBO Max can watch Game of Thrones and its current spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Prime Video subscribers can watch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The offerings on Netflix are a little lighter, but fantasy fans can still watch The Witcher. Now, a popular Stephen R. Lawhead historical fantasy series has come to life on a smaller streamer.

The Stephen R. Lawhead novel, The Pendragon Cycle, is now a streaming series called The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin. All seven episodes of its first season are available to watch right now, but there is a catch. It is streaming on DailyWire+.

Should You Be Watching The Pendragon Cycle on DailyWire+?

The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is based on The Pendragon Cycle series of novels by Stephen R. Lawhead, all inspired by the Arthurian legends. However, the books weren’t initially completed, as the original publisher canceled the planned four-book series after just three novels, turning it into a trilogy. A few years later, Lawhead moved on to a new publisher and wrote two more books set between the stories in the original trilogy, and then he wrote a sixth book set centuries later in the same world. He finally released a seventh book called Aurelia last year.

The epic fantasy streaming series follows Merlin (Tom Sharp), the immortal son of the bard Taliesin and Atlantean Princess Charis, who descends into madness and disappears. The story itself takes place before King Arthur’s birth, when Merlin reemerges from legends to help unite the fractured kingdoms of Britain as the Saxon invaders arrive.

Read Next

7 Best Swordsmen in Game of Thrones, Ranked

However, since it is on DailyWire+, not as many people are watching it. In fact, there isn’t a single critic’s review of the new epic fantasy series. However, there are over 250 audience ratings and reviews, which averaged out to a healthy 86% positive Popcornmeter score. Interestingly, several of the reviews sound very similar to each other, which makes some of them dubious. However, there are plenty of reviews that seem to indicate The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is a promising start to a fantasy series that might be worth checking out.

The first two episodes dropped on January 22, and the Season 1 finale aired on March 5. The problem is that The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is streaming on DailyWire+, and this is nowhere near as big as Netflix, HBO Max, and Prime Video when it comes to subscribers. The last known numbers came in 2022 when Daily Wire announced it had passed one million subscribers, and a 2024 investment prediction said it was still holding steady at that number. The service remains polarizing for political reasons, and this only hurts the reach of shows like The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin, which needs big viewing numbers to ensure its survivability.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!