If we can thank Game of Thrones for anything other than six remarkable seasons of television, it’s the gift of financial viability they gave to fantasy and medieval projects that would follow them.
I love the genre.
I love the limitations of combat and the inherent closeness of the melee fighting.
I love the fact that if you want to attack someone from range, you need a bow and arrow to do it.
All of that, melee or ranged, requires skill — and thus, dramatic tension — that isn’t afforded with guns. Guns are so impersonal, but a sword? Well, disregarding the obvious phallic symbolism of the tool, a sword is…intimate.
Thus I have tried to keep my ear to the ground about upcoming projects with swords, and there are a few very promising ones on the horizon.
I’ll start with Medieval, which is coming out in 2022. I don’t know the story, I have only a very lukewarm sense of the skill of the director behind it, but it has four things I can really get behind.
Swords.
Ben Foster.
Matthew Goode.
And the great Michael Caine.
I find it hard to believe that a poor script would have attracted this much talent. There’s also Roland Møller whom you may remember from Skyscraper…
And German heartthrob Til Schweiger.
It’s still a little way off, currently scheduled for a 2022 release, but I’m fired up for it. Looks gritty AF.
Also in 2022, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel series. I’m going to feast on this like a starving mule. The 20-episode first season had a budget of $465 million and I am alllllll about it. Especially because among the stellar cast is one of my favs: The lovely and talented Nazanin Boniadi.
We’re just about a year away, now. Amazon teased us with the first image from the series. Can. Not. Wait.
On September 2, 2022, a new journey begins. pic.twitter.com/9tnR7WqDoA
— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) August 2, 2021
Coming to our big screen this October is a dour-as-hell story of a possible transgression and the resultant fallout. The Last Duel is based on the novel of the same name from Eric Jager. Nicole Holofcener (love her) wrote the screenplay and shares credit with both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. And the cast? Hello! The aforementioned Affleck and Damon, as well as Adam Driver and Jodie Comer.
I’m pretty fired up for this. Damon looks like a badass. Driver is always amazing. Comer is so talented. Dis gon b gud.
So, lots of fun with swords coming down the pike! Let’s meet back here for a flagon of mead to talk about them when they come out!
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