Cursed creators Tom Wheeler and Frank Miller share their inspiration and more
By Bryce Olin
Cursed creators Tom Wheeler and Frank Miller share their inspiration
Cursed is the hottest show on Netflix right now, after the release of the first season on Friday, July 17.
The new Netflix fantasy series is based on Arthurian legend and is a re-imagination of the characters from all those stories. It’s also based on the illustrated novel of the same name by Tom Wheeler and Frank Miller, the creators of the series.
Netflix Life attended a virtual roundtable with Wheeler and Miller prior to the release of the series.
Cursed tells the story of Nimue, a young woman with mysterious powers destined to become the Lady of the Lake. Katherine Langford, star of 13 Reasons Why, stars as Nimue in the series, alongside Gustaf Skarsgård, Devon Terrell, Daniel Sharman, Peter Mullan, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Lily Newmark, Sebastion Armesto, Emily Coates, and Billy Jenkins.
It’s the first time Nimue has taken center stage in a story based on Arthurian legend, and that was very important for Wheeler and Miller when finding a way into this world.
“When we were working on this story, my daughter was 10 or 11 years old,” Wheeler says. “While we were circling this world and knew that was such an amazing sandbox, and I was thrilled to be working with a Frank Miller, and as a lifelong fan, it occurred to me that my daughter didn’t have the same opportunities through these characters to kind of attach herself and as we did.
“As Nimue began to kind of come to the surface — no, I guess, pun intended there — as the character that we would really, sort of, lock on to and follow, it felt like maybe she would have the opportunity my daughter to kind of see herself as the hero that can kind of seize the sword. And these are themes that matter to everyone and can, you know, impact anyone’s life and so that was exciting.”
After watching the first season, I think it’s clear that Wheeler and Miller accomplished that goal. Nimue is an incredible heroine, and Langford’s performance in the series is excellent as well.
Many of your favorites from Arthurian legend present, as well, including Merlin, played by Skarsgård, and Arthur, played by Terrell, although these characters are a little different than other versions.
We asked Wheeler and Miller about the challenges in re-imagining Arthurian legend and characters we know so well and have seen in so many other shows and movies.
“There are no challenges. It falls into your hand like ripened fruit,” Miller joked.
Wheeler agreed with Miller, to a certain extent.
“It was more of a sense of opportunity and excitement. You can’t be too loyal to any particular version.” Wheeler says. “You just have to approach it from a sense of play and enthusiasm for these characters in these themes. And, that was really the approach for me.
“It was imagining these characters kind of through a Frank Miller lens, which kind of gives you the sense of the light and the darkness. And we also talked a lot about nature. We talked a lot about a dark fairy tale to sort of inform how the magic would feel. So, initially, I don’t think we were daunted so much as where to begin and how to have the most fun but be surprising in a story that people feel like they know.
“How do we bring in characters that are new or at least kind of innovated and then build toward the classic story we know? It really was the goal and the fun. We love these characters, we revere these characters, but to really give them a big epic tale and story to go on, they have to start from a very different place. So, that, I would say, was one of the most exciting and fun aspects of this, sort of looking at these characters from where they might have started, you know, via Nimue’s story and then how to get them to their origin point.”
All 10 episodes of Cursed are streaming on Netflix right now! We highly recommend checking out the new Netflix series as soon as you can!