Making Magic: Interview with Merlin's Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps

Merlin's Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps. Photo copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises.

In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy, his name…Merlin. Every week, fans of the hit BBC fantasy TV series Merlin look forward to hearing those opening words and the start of a new episode. Using the Arthurian legends as a jumping-off point, the show is based on Prince Arthur’s friendship with the wizard Merlin and eventual succession to the throne of Camelot following the death of his father, King Uther Pendragon. From the very beginning, series co-creators and current executive producers Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy knew the story they wanted to tell and how they wanted to do it.

“We’ve always enjoyed making high-concept shows,” notes Capps. “Before Merlin we worked on a show called Hex, and one of the problems we had with that is that we created the mythology ourselves. So when we began work on our next project, we thought instead of creating an entire mythology, let’s find one, and at the time, Merlin was ripe for reinvention. We felt that the Arthurian legend and the story of Merlin were fascinating as well as a rich pot in which to explore.

Adds Murphy, “I think the main thing for us is that if we were going to do this, we wanted to do it our way and, I guess, a slightly different way rather than just telling a straightforward version of the story, albeit a terrific one. We’ve always been fascinated by coming of age stories and I think that type of drama and the established legends met in our minds and the result is the take on the Arthur/Merlin legend that we’ve come up with.”

Merlin (Colin Morgan). Photo copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises.

Longtime Merlin watchers have no doubt noted just how well-cast each of the show’s characters are, from the noble and compassionate Arthur (Bradley James), to the loyal and self-sacrificing Merlin (Colin Morgan), the strong and caring Guinevere (Angel Coulby), the wise and gifted sorcerer Gaius (Richard Wilson) and the beautiful as well as duplicitous Morgana (Katie McGrath). The key, however, to the program’s initial success, or potential failure, depended on the casting of one role, in particular.

“The part of Merlin was the one that scared us the most,” admits Capps. “We’ve cast a number of shows in our careers, and with this one it was important that we find an actor who not only had an extraordinary playing range, but at the same time was also incredibly likeable. Because Merlin is a young character, we were looking for an actor who wasn’t a [big] name or had much experience.

“That was quite a daunting prospect, especially because we knew that if we didn’t find the right actor, the show wouldn’t work, no matter how good the special effects and the scripts were. If you didn’t care about the actor playing the role of Merlin, then the whole thing would fail. It was a pretty stressful time and there was plenty of heated debate about who was right, who was wrong and exactly what we were looking for. We saw lots and lots of actors for the role, and we auditioned poor old Colin Morgan more than once. Fortunately, our instincts were right and he turned out to be an amazing actor and absolutely perfect for the role, so we were thrilled.”

Guinevere (Angel Coulby) and Arthur (Bradley James). Photo copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises.

Morgan and his fellow castmates made their Merlin debut in the series opener, The Dragon’s Call. Written by series co-creator Julian Jones and directed by James Hawes, it finds a teenage Merlin being sent by his mother to Camelot in the hopes of finding a better life. Once there, he becomes Prince Arthur’s personal servant as well as a page to Gaius, who teaches Merlin not only medicine but also how to hone his magical abilities. Unfortunately, King Uther (Anthony Head) has forbidden the use of magic in his kingdom, which causes all kinds of complications for Merlin as he secretly uses his powers to protect Arthur from harm. Not surprisingly, the episode was a big undertaking for all those concerned.

“That was the first time we tried to create Camelot, and I won’t pretend it was easy, because it wasn’t,” recalls Murphy with a chuckle. “We went to a big chateau in France, and it was our plan to create that world there, but I think you enter these things without realizing the true extent of what it means to create a fantasy world on television, with a television budget and on a television schedule. It’s a very tough thing to do, and I think now we tackle similar such tasks with far more experience and knowledge than we did back then.

Says Capps, “I think the other thing that was really hard about The Dragon’s Call was judging the tone of the performance and, like Julian said, making that fantasy world believable while at the same time getting the acting tone right so that you believed in that world. American actors are much better in high-concept shows than British actors, and by that I mean British actors tend to be quite sort of naturalistic in the way in which they perform. So we needed to find British actors as well as a British director that could take our characters and put them in this fantasy world where they would inhabit that world in a real way. I think tonally shifting the performances was really hard and quite stressful during those first few weeks.”

Katie McGrath (Morgana) in-between takes on the Merlin set. Photo copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises.

Continues Murphy, “I think we were very pleased with how the show’s humor worked. That was a vital part of our story, especially the humor between the two central characters, Arthur and Merlin. They had rather a difficult relationship in the beginning, but that has since become a genuine odd couple friendship, which is, for us, the heart of the show. If we didn’t get the chemistry and feel of that right, and if the viewers didn’t want to be with that odd couple, then, once again, the program wasn’t going to work. The confidence that slowly grew into that relationship along with the strength and emotion that Colin and Bradley both brought to it was a real highlight for us. We knew we had this strong buddy story at the heart of everything and it made writing the show easier.

Adds Capps, “I also think that our confidence grew very quickly when we started making Merlin, so by the time we reached season two we were more ambitious about what we could do story wise and tell even more epic stories with more sort of life and death situations. That was really pleasing for us as storytellers. At the end of the second season we had the big dragon attack [in the season finale The Last Dragonlord], which was hugely ambitious. At the time we didn’t know how we were going to do it, but, again, there was sort of a confidence that we had built over the two seasons to have that kind of climatic end to season two, and at the same time tell a really, really emotional story.

“I guess the thrill about the storytelling was that the format was so tight that we could have the humor that Julian was talking about, but also explore epic stories and big emotional themes between characters.”

Gaius (Richard Wilson) and Emrys (Colin Morgan as the elder Merlin). Photo copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises.

In season two’s penultimate story The Fires of Idirsholas, Morgana joins forces with her half-sister Morgause (Emlia Fox) in an attempt to end King Uther’s reign. Thanks to Merlin’s intervention, they fail and are forced to retreat, albeit temporarily. In the show’s third year, their hated of Uther and Camelot intensifies, and Morgana becomes an even greater threat to the kingdom. What were some of the initial creative challenges for the show’s producers and writers when deciding to take Morgana down such a dark and destructive path?

“To be honest we had always planned to do that,” says Murphy. “We planned to start Morgana out as a character on the cusp who was conflicted and could do either way. So we always understood her motivation for taking the dark path that we knew she would, and it was just a matter of being patient.

“One of the lessons we’ve learnt from past TV series we’ve done is to always be patient with characters. Even though the audience might be clamoring for a character to become, in this case, the villainess they want, and even though your instincts might be to speed up that character’s development, just be patient and let the character grow.

King Uther (Anthony Head) falls victim to Morgana's scheming. Photo copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises.

“So by the time we got to the third season, we were right on the edge and could take Morgana down this path. It was actually a massive release for both us and the actress, Katie McGrath, to be able to explore all these new facets of the character. It was one of those factors that took the series as a whole to another level in many ways, but, again we had planned at the beginning of season three to take Morgana across to the other side, and viewers got the first hint of that at the end of season two.”

In Merlin’s two-part third season finale The Coming of Arthur, Morgana finally succeeds in ousting Uther from the throne and crowns herself as the new Queen of Camelot. Using the legendary Cup of Life, she and Morgause are able to summon forth a seemingly unstoppable army to fight against Arthur, Merlin and the recently-formed Knights of the Round Table.

“That was a very exciting episode to write,” says Capps. “We wanted to create a situation where we began the legend of the Round Table. At the same time, we’d learned a great deal technically during that season about using the massive program that generated the [CGI, computer-generated image] army. So there were big Arthurian legend story moments that we were excited about, and we also wanted to put all the technical knowledge that we’d learnt to good use with the season three finale.”

Sir Elyan (Adetomiwa Edun), Merlin (Colin Morgan) and Sir Lancelot (Santiago Cabrera) in season four's "The Darkest Hour." Photo copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises.

Arthur and his faithful followers manage to thwart Morgana’s plans and banish her from Camelot, but her defeat only makes the witch all the more bitter and hungry for revenge. In the season four opener The Darkest Hour, Morgause sacrifices herself, allowing Morgana to unleash the spirits of the dead, the Dorocha, on Camelot. As with the aforementioned The Coming of Arthur, this episode had its own set of creative challenges as it went before the cameras.

“This two-parter was really tricky because it was something we’d never done before in that it was about creating tension and dread,” explains Capps. “So we filmed this episode in a slightly different way than we normally do and it was quite a tough shoot because, again, it was all about creating a sense of dread. We weren’t showing a monster and then the repercussions of it. Instead, we were creating a feeling of unease, and I think that was a real challenge for us as well as the director [Alice Troughton] and the actors.”

With Morgause gone, Morgana gains a new ally at the start of Merlin’s fourth season, Lord Agravaine, played by Nathaniel Parker (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries). The brother of Ygraine Pendragon (Alice Patten), Uther’s deceased wife and Arthur’s mother, Agravaine comes to Camelot to advise Arthur when he is crowned king after his father’s death. In fact, he blames Uther for his sister’s death and is eager to help Morgana bring about the downfall of Arthur and Camelot.

Lord Agravaine (Nathaniel Parker). Photo copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises. 

“The Agravaine character was ‘stolen’ from the Arthurian legends and then slightly changed for the purposes of our story,” says Murphy. “We were interested in Arthur’s motherless childhood along with the bonds that he made during that time, and his sort of blind trust of those bonds where his uncle, Agravaine, is now concerned. I think that works very well because it’s a part of Arthur’s character and who he is.

“Nat Parker was actually someone who we originally thought of for the role of Agravaine. We didn’t go looking or trawling for him – he was in our minds. Nat has done quite a bit of TV here in the UK, so he is a familiar face and you know what he can do acting-wise. Curiously enough, he has rarely played a villain, and he did it very well as Agravaine.

While the villainous ranks have grown in Merlin’s fourth season, so have those of the good guys with the increased presence of the Knights of the Round Table – Sir Leon (Rupert Young), Sir Percival (Tom Hopper), Sir Gwaine (Eoin Macken), Sir Lancelot (Santiago Cabrera) and Sir Elyan (Adetomiwa Edun).

(L-R): Sir Leon (Rupert Young), Sir Gwaine (Eoin Macken), Sir Lancelot (Santiago Cabrera), King Arthur (Bradley James), Sir Elyan (Adetomiwa Edun) and Sir Percival (Tom Hopper). Photo copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises.

“We always imagined that when Arthur became king, the adventures of the knights would become a part of the series, and that’s what’s happened,” says Murphy. “They’ve turned out to be wonderful characters and the actors we’ve cast in the roles have worked out very, very well. What I like about them is that they’re becoming more and more convincing warriors and knights, which is lovely to see. Also, with the knights we have that many more ways to access stories as well as further explore the dynamics between the characters.”

Currently, Murphy and Capps are hard at work in post-production preparing for Merlin’s fifth season, which begins shooting next month. Are there any hints they can offer up as to what viewers might be able to expect?

“Well, season five is going to be good,” enthuses Capps. “We’ve got some great twists and turnings coming up and we’re bringing in a few more characters from the Arthurian legend.”

Steve Eramo

As noted above, all photos copyright of Shine Ltd. and FremantleMedia Enterprises, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Comments

[D]

I am really looking forward to season 5 but do sincerely hope that the time is ripe for Merlin to reveal his magic to Arthur. It is important for his (and Arthur's) character development. Please writers, do not drag this one out any longer! Merlin is known as a powerful sorcerer in all the legend stories so it's high time this is happening in the show, too.

[HD]

I hope Merlin V will be more about Merlin himself! There is so much to tell about him, about his stories and about his powers! Plus Colin Morgan is so amazing!

[nyama]

yess agravaine succeded because of arthurs blind trust of those closest to him,and yess that a part of arthurs character,merlin will not succeded in some of the plans if arthur was not that trusting, but what they did not show and which made this argravaine thing hard to take was luck of motivation for argravaine,so yess he hated uther but arthur was his nephew and to be that ruthless in seeking his death and destruction without establishing a stronger reason why, took away from the story,we were required to believe that he was motivated by love for morgana one that was never shown in the show and the only hint was from a cut scene.merlin will be a much stronger show if they did a better job of establishing character motivation.
merlin as a show is very bad at showing conflict in their vilians,infact the only vilian that ever showed some kind of remose was nemue from season one,you could tell she was sad at what had happened between her and uther.i dont know if the luck of conflict of emotion is deu to acting or writing,yess we saw morgana heading toward evil but as much as she hated uther their were people she cared about,whom she had to turn he back to yet not once did we see her sad turning her back on her friends and planning their death untill season 4 finale in like a second scene but by then it was too late.i even have a problem with how easily my hero merlin kills without not even a blink,yess this people mean to kill arthur and he is always forced to kill them but life is still life and given that merlin is supossed to be the hero of the show and this being a family show it would be nice if he did show regret at being forced to take a life.

[Rachel]

This articale is suffering from a huge lack of romance, where is the love interest of the show? How can you speak about the Arthurian legend in general or the show itself and overlook the love triangle? It is as important in the Arthurian storyline as Merlin's presence or Morgana's bitterness!!! really SAD.

[Juni Shady Brown]

more merlin movies must be showed i.e new episodes............

[Juni Shady Brown]

more actions must be showed..............
Merlin needs magic...........
'cause it lacks it and needs more of it.............

[A Facebook User]

I commend the writers for what they have been able to accomplish with this program up until now, and, am looking forward to all future episodes. I agree that it is getting close to when Merlin needs to reveal to Arthur who and what he is. I,also, agree that the reasons behind Agravaine's motives need to be exposed. I hope that those of you who have already seen season four don't reveal to us here in the USA too much of season four as we are just into this season. Again, I am looking forward to the remainder of this season, and to the adventures of season five.

[Beth Schneider]

I hopeful for season 5 that you do delve more into the legend. Hopefully the knights will turn to be a more important part of the story, just as the original legend holds. Also hope that you write the character of Gwaine a little better than in Series 4. You developed him so well in Series 3 and then took away everything that made him. You brought some of that back in The Secret Sharer, but it's sad that you've lost the charismatic Gwaine. The character Gwaine, is very important with in the original legend as well. Don't loose the the best Knight you have. Please and Thank you.

[Mog]

I agree that series 5 has to have the reveal. This is not Superman (see other interviews with Merlin folk). And a bit more about Merlin and some decent magic, please. He is supposed to be the most powerful warlock ... ever .... and yes to having Gwaine back to S3 Gwaine.

[Linda]

They need to make a season 6

[criticalck]

It doesn't have to end here. Merlin could remember about a lost relic that holds the power to go back in time. He could then go back in time and change what he says to Arthur about magic. Arthur can then go back to the soothsayers and change his response. Then in the next episodes, evil magic can be fought with good magic in the hunt to take down Morgana. Queen Guinevere can then become pregnant in several episodes later and the baby can be born as Morgana is finally killed. There should also be an episode in there where Morgana's dragon is taken over and brought back to health by Merlin. He is then introduced to the old dragon before he dies. This is too good a series to end here. There could be so much more. Merlin can also finally then become friends with Mordred who can stand behind Arthur when facing Morgana, and in another episode, Arthur can finally see Merlin use his magic for good and realize that he has always been protecting him. Everything will then make sense. Arthur will realize the true wisdom of Merlin and ask for his input when ruling his kingdom.

[Paviles]

Magnificent series, great performance, but did not close the story well. Many loose ends and also defrauded fans. The fifth season was hasty and forced the story. They promised much and failed. Magic does not return to Camelot, not met the golden age as expected, Merlin was never the great magician, had many errors that helped the premature death of Arthur.
JC and JM lost his big chance to really transcend. Perhaps, with the sixth season or more economic resources or more imagination or know what the fans really want, they had achieved. This explains why I do not win in NTA Merlin, even with such excellent actors.