This is a mostly spoiler-free review of the first season of The Letter for the King, which is currently available to binge on Netflix.
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In an era of big-budget adult fantasy series like Game of Thrones and The Witcher — where sex, violence, and moral ambiguity run amok — Netflix’s The Letter for the King is refreshingly wholesome, with a charming “good conquers evil” theme that permeates its first season. Based on Dutch writer Tonke Dragt’s 1962 novel of the same name, the series centers on Tiuri (played by His Dark Materials’ Amir Wilson), an aspiring knight who struggles to grasp the basic concepts of sword fighting. After receiving an important message from a mysterious knight, Tuir embarks on a quest to (you guessed it!) deliver a letter to the king while the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
The Letter for the King isn’t trying to rewrite the fantasy rulebook here, so its narrative structure feels very familiar, if not a tad cliché. Tiuri fits the mold of numerous young heroes before him: Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, Jon Snow – any leading man who’s earnest and a little tortured. However, Wilson is solid in the role, with the appropriate amount of “aw shucks” charisma needed to portray a young hero who’s in way over his head. While Letter for the King’s story is unlikely to surprise you over the course of its six-episode run, series writer Will Davies (How To Train Your Dragon) is able to adapt Dragt’s novel into a diverting tale thanks to its scenic New Zealand backdrops and a host of engaging characters you wouldn’t mind embarking on a quest with.
The ensemble of characters have enough quirks and features to make them memorable – especially Jonah Lees’ Jussipo and Thaddea Graham’s Iona. Jussipo is the Jaskier of the group, an aspiring bard who plays the lute and sings when no one has asked him to, and Lees’ performance offers some welcome comic relief whenever things start getting serious. Iona, on the other hand, is a fierce young warrior who is one of the few characters that straddles the line between good and bad. Iona’s ferocious demeanor makes her surprisingly intimidating, considering her small stature.
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Another important member of Tiuri’s troop is Lavinia, played by Ruby Ashbourne Serkis — the daughter of mo-cap mastermind Andy Serkis, who also plays a small role as Lavinia’s on-screen father. While the younger Skerkis doesn’t have the same kind of acting resume as her father, she more than holds her own, whether she’s acting alongside her dad or Wilson’s Tiuri. Her character’s only shortcoming is that you can instantly feel the whole “will they/won’t they” dynamic between Lavinia and Tiuri, which doesn’t necessarily add anything to the story.
On the villain front, Gijs Blom’s Prince Viridian is a formidable figure with some nifty magical powers, but he’s also pretty one-note as a character. The story does give Viridian a hint of nuance in one particular scene where he describes himself as the hero of this tale to one of his minions, but we never get to explore that narrative thread further. Instead, Viridian is reduced to a caricature of a villain, instead of a fully-formed person.
At a brisk six-episode pace, The Letter for the King is able to do an impressive amount of world-building by implementing certain visual cues in the same way the Lord of the Rings trilogy did. With sweeping shots of extensive open landscapes, the series is able to achieve a sense of scale, which makes it feel like Tiuri and his companions are covering a lot of ground on their quest. These visually striking shots also help to establish the show’s medieval fantasy look, however, the computer-generated visual effects are less impressive, especially when a CGI castle looms in the background. While not a dealbreaker, it’s difficult to ignore if you’re used to seeing fully-realized versions of Winterfell and the Red Keep on Game of Thrones.
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By the time we get towards the latter half of the season, the magical facets of the story start ramping up. These magical displays (unlike some of the other special effects) look good, and there’s even a bit of mystery to how it all works, which is probably being saved for future seasons if Netflix gives them the green light (Dragt wrote a sequel in 1965, titled “The Secrets of the Wild Wood”). If anything, the creators probably keep the mysteries surrounding the use of magic a little too close to the chest in Season 1. There are some magical interactions towards the end that may leave you scratching your head, wondering how they happened.
Source: IGN.com Netflix's The Letter for the King: Season 1 Review