Throughout the entire first season of Cursed, which was released on Netflix this past weekend, The Weeping Monk acts as one of the main antagonists to Nimue’s cause. He’s never the one calling the shots for the villains, but the Weeping Monk is easily the most dangerous and terrifying fighter in the entire series, slaughtering countless innocents on behalf of Father Carden. However, there’s more to this villain than meets the eye, and the final minutes of the Season 1 finale deliver a shocking revelation about the Weeping Monk’s true identity, one that will have major implications on the series going forward.
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WARNING: This article contains MAJOR spoilers for the first season of Cursed. Continue reading at your own risk…
In the latter half of the season, Gawain reveals that he knows the Weeping Monk was actually born Fey, using the heritage to try and convince the villain to change sides. This eventually works, and the monk uses his abilities to help stop Father Carden, allowing the Fey forces to win. The Weeping Monk eventually escapes the Red Paladin camp with Percival and tells the young boy his real name: Lancelot.
Yes, he’s THAT Lancelot. Throughout the season, the Weeping Monk is set up to be an expert swordsman, just like the Lancelot we all know from classic Arthurian tales. Along with Gawain and Percival, Lancelot eventually becomes one of the Knights of the Round Table, though this version of the character will need to patch things up with Arthur first.
There are a lot of reveals in the last couple of episodes of Cursed, but the identity of Lancelot is easily the biggest. Not only does it mean that one of the show’s main villains will end up becoming a hero, but it also gives fans one of the most popular characters in Arthurian lore. Outside of Arthur and Merlin, Lancelot is probably the most well-known name from the legends.
Keeping the secret of Lancelot’s identity a secret wasn’t an easy task for actor Daniel Sharman, but it added to the fun of playing the character.
“What was quite fun about that is I had a secret that I couldn’t tell anybody,” Sharman told ComicBook.com. “But that kind of feeds into a bit of the character. This fear that people are going to find out who he is. So, I was living in this life of basically hiding this other person, this other knowledge of this human being. And it kind of feeds into a bit of the story. That feeds into a little bit of the character being insanely in control and fearful of that inner life coming out, so it was kind of helpful.”
It’ll be interesting to see how the arrival of Lancelot impacts the rest of the characters in Season 2. Only Percival knows of his true identity, and it seems like Gawain is the only other person who even knows that he’s Fey. There’s a lot more of that story to be told, you can bet on that.
Were you surprised by The Weeping Monk’s big reveal? What do you think the character has in store for Season 2? Let us know in the comments!
Season 1 of Cursed is now streaming on Netflix.
