When I met with the cast and creators of Damn last summer, it was clear that everyone was proud of the spectacle in which they occur. He had a sense. While walking through realistic stone castles, explored a lush undergrowth of the forest, and poked my head in Merlin’s bedroom, it was impossible not to get excited about. There we were, in a large warehouse in Slough — a town an hour west of London — mythical creatures lounging in plastic chairs, while waiting to be called to set, and the cast members (as Devon Terrell and Billy Jenkins) casually joking with the media, between takes, all the while smattered with the blood, the sweat and the dirt. Just a normal day on the set of Netflix’s latest fantasy series.
I expected to see amazing costumes, hear about epic fight scenes, and get a glimpse into the world of the talented individuals that created the special effects makeup. What is not expected is that Damn it is not simply another version of the Legend of Arthur, but is a reinvention of the forces of the classic story in 2020.
“We both felt like King Arthur had been mined extensively, and recently. I was thinking about that through the eyes of my now 12 year old daughter, and I wanted to expand the canvas of the females of the heroes in this mythology.”
Based on an illustrated YA novel of the same name, Damn it centers around Nimue (played by Katherine Langford) in the years before she becomes the Lady of the Lake, which is better known as in the legend. Nimue is ostracised by her community, her entire life due to his magical powers, and the dark streak that runs through it. But when the Red of the Paladins of the massacre of his entire village, she narrowly escapes with the mission of his dying mother: to return a powerful sword to Merlin the sorcerer. Along the way, he meets a young mercenary named Arthur (more commonly known as King Arthur other retellings of the Arthurian Legend), and the Sister of Igraine, who becomes Nimue’s right hand woman.
At this point, Damn sounds like your run-of-the-mill fantasy series, right? Well, it isn’t. In the first episode, Langford’s character is immediately established as the heroine, which is particularly significant if we consider that all the other adaptation of the Arthurian Legend has placed Arthur as the protagonist of the story.
The creators of Damn I could have easily fallen into the metaphor of the painting Nimue as an accessory to the male lead, with his bow hingeing in your fall in love and live happily ever after. But Nimue had sh*t to do, well, like return of the all-powerful sword to Merlin, for a start. And although there is a love story that unfolds between Nimue and Arthur during the second half of the series, which is certainly not your most important part of the story, nor much less. As much as women in real life, who have jobs, aspirations, and goals that coexist, the romance is only a part of their history. Nimue is not only the protagonist, or main love-interest Damnshe is a determined heroine who is on a mission. Sure, maybe she has no time for love, if she wants to, but is not their main driving force.
The writer Tom Wheeler, explained that at the time of creating Nimue, he and Frank Miller deliberately wanted the building block of the mythology. “I think we both felt like King Arthur had been mined extensively, and recently,” he said. “I was thinking about that through the eyes of my now 12 year old daughter, and I wanted to expand the canvas of the females of the heroes in this mythology.” In addition, he added, “Frank creates this kind of woman cold heroes and antihero of the characters.”
Nimue loves her friends deeply, cares about his community, from the heart, and not escape the great responsibility given to her by her mother. The story of King Arthur — the arthurian Legend — is a classic, but the choice of centre Nimue as the lead does not. Katherine Langford, admitted that he was very proud to portray Nimue as the sword-wielding badass. “As a woman, and as a girl, growing up without believing, or even think, that you could be in a position of power,” he said. “You never think that you could be a king. So, when Nimue first receives the sword, does not cross his mind. An interesting thing is that in this series all the men are power-seeking, but often, when it gives them, they destroy or make unauthorized use of it. While that all women . . . do not seek power, however, that in some way we are taking into account that the power and the responsibility. I think that is because they are not looking, they come to power because they are natural leaders, and have pure intentions.”
Nimue is not the only strong female character in Damnand , in my opinion, the show has a couple of women heroines. The sister Igraine (played by the Australian actress, Shalom Brune-Franklin) is the only family that has known the struggle against the Red Knights, while Nimue the friend of childhood Pym (played by Lily Newmark) survives a massacre in his community, against all the odds.
When the show of champions in boys and men, is done with nuance and in a way that stands up to the people who are traditionally portrayed as the one below, and even the “good” men are shown to be defective. Terrell explained that Arthur begins the series as a mercenary with a lot of family problems, but as the series progresses, he is just trying to figure out who he is as a man. “It is a kind of slag,” he laughed, Terrell. “He has his debts, and he is just trying to pay for them. And while he is trying to make it to the end of the month, not thinking too much about situations.” He explained that Arthur has always been the better fighter, but when he is dragged into a world of magic, he suddenly realizes that he is a great leader, but maybe not the “best warrior out there.”
Terrell also touched on what it was like to be the first Black man to portray Arthur — a character traditionally depicted as white. “Tom creates his own world, and Frank has all of these strange and outlandish ideas of where Arthur comes, so I did all the background of the research, and then you just have to let go and be free,” he said. “Also, being a young, Black man and playing Arthur, which comes with its own weight and understanding. So, we threw that out of the way and I thought, this is Arthur, a boy — we’re not going to get into the history of it, you get to be King yet.”
“There are not many characters of fantasy for young people, Black people — both men and women. So, it is really exciting for the young people to see themselves in this because I am a young, mixed-race guy, and I would have been so excited to see myself on the screen as well.”
Race is an issue that underpins the whole history of Damnwhere the terrible Red of the Paladins of the tear through the towns and kill people simply for being different to them. When he took the draft, Terrell was excited to explore a world that portrays a spectrum of ethnic diversity. “I asked Tom, initially, if the series is talking about the race in the world, and said that, in reality, it is the Fae against the humans, or the humans against the Fae, but the Fae are peaceful people,” he said. “As a young Black person, it was really exciting to see. There are not many characters of fantasy for young people, Black people — both men and women. So, it is really exciting for the young people to see themselves in this because I am a young, mixed-race guy, and I would have been so excited to see myself on the screen as well.”
Damn could be inspired by an old story, but Wheeler and Miller have dragged the old Arthurian Legend in the year 2020, in a purpose that is both refreshing and empowering. The the series is now available to watch on Netflixall over the world.
