As Merlin wraps up its second season on the air in the UK, the cast and crew have received some good news. They’ll be going back to work for a third round of episodes.
Merlin tells the story of the legendary wizard’s early adulthood, living in the court of King Uther, Arthur’s father. The series features Colin Morgan as Merlin, Bradley James as Prince Arthur, Anthony Head as King Uther, Katie McGrath as Morgana, Angel Coulby as Gwen, Richard Wilson as Gaius, and John Hurt as the voice of the Great Dragon.
In the UK, the ratings were strong enough for BBC One to renew Merlin for a second season back in December 2008. Season two began airing in September 2009 and will finish on December 19th. While viewership has dropped a bit, the ratings are high enough for BBC One to greenlight a third season.
In a statement, Controller Drama Commissioning Ben Stephenson said, “With its mix of magic, adventure and humour, Merlin is perfect Saturday-evening family television, and we are thrilled that Shine Television will be creating a new series for BBC One. I’m looking forward to seeing what adventures our popular young wizard, and his friends in Camelot, will go on in series three.”
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Johnny Capps, Executive Producer of Shine Television (which produces the show), added, “Merlin is ready to burst back onto BBC One with more action, romance and, of course, magic to delight fans of all ages. After the thrilling finale of the current series audiences will be left wondering what happens next — and with so many of Merlin and Arthur’s adventures yet to unfold, we can’t wait to continue the story.”
Unfortunately, it’s still up in the air as to when or if the second or third season of Merlin will be shown in the US. An NBC network spokesperson tells us that the network has yet to make a decision on whether they will air another season. The ratings for season one weren’t very strong so, realistically, the chances don’t look all that good.
If NBC decides to air season two of Merlin, the series probably won’t come back until next summer, at the earliest.
If NBC doesn’t want it, the series could be picked up by another outlet. Or, at the very least, fans will eventually be able to purchase season DVDs. The first season has already been released in the UK and will no doubt be released in the US.
What do you think? Would you like to see NBC air the second and third seasons of Merlin? Would you buy them on DVD?
Image courtesy BBC One.
I would love to see Melin return for 4 more seasons,I really like it
I’ve recently started watching the TV series Merlin, and I absolutely LOVE it!!!!! :). I’ve already finished watching the first two seasons, and I would like NBC to show season 3. If they wont show it then I hope SyFy will since they are the ones who have been showing the TV series Merlin. So hopefully that happens! And I can’t wait until it does! =)!
Wow, 13 straight hours of Merlin yesterday! (actually, it was about 9.5 since I FF the commercials.) I was in heaven. Watching it all at once like that, many things that I thought were discrepencies in characterization and plot from Season 1 to Season 2 turned out to be just me forgetting what had happened from one season to the next. Can’t wait for S2 to start on Fri. Thanks Scifi! ( I refuse to acknowledge the new spelling of the channel on the grounds that it is stupid.) Now I can watch it on an actual big TV screen… Read more »
I would love to see the second and third seasons of Merlin air on NBC as it is the best rendition of the Merlin story I have ever seen. Each week my husband and I would wait with great anticipation of the wonderful hour of viewing we would enjoy, and we sorry miss the show not being on. There are so few high quality shows left on TV and we felt this met the bar for a high quality and good entertainment. SciFi is airing the previous season now, so I hope they will air the rest of the series.… Read more »
Season Two starts Friday nght on SyFy. I have been watching the marathon all day of the first season just to refresh my memory. It is a great show and I can’t wait for the second season to start.
I would buy it! Amazon.com is the place that I did buy it. I preordered it and expect to have my season one on dvd at the end of april. It was not that expensive either. And how does NBC expect people to watch Merlin when they put it on Sunday nights? That is the worst night they could have picked! For all the people who missed season one of Merlin and would like to find out for yourselves what the show is like, then watch it on the SYFY channel.
I really enjoyed the show when I found it. I think it needs more exposure from the network. I would love to see more seasons.
Anonymous is probably from NBC. Do not forget, many homes do not have cable. Some cable companies or packages do not have SYFY.
I didn’t know that NBC owned Syfy. So then they’re just taking the show from one channel to another. Well that’s cool that they haven’t totally given up on it then. Maybe for financial reasons it wasn’t working out on NBC. I’m glad it’s still going to be on.
For those that may not know.
See below, NBC owns the Syfi Channel.
©2010, Syfy. All rights reserved.
A Division of NBC Universal
I looked on our SYFY and the marathon starts here , in Santa Barbara, March 28th!! I have mine set up too and can not wait. NBC’s loss is SYFY’ s gain. SYFY will have a whole group of new fans!!
NBC Owns Syfi BTW
I love watching Merlin. It would be great if NBC would give it another shot and show it. If they don’t though I would definitely buy it on DVD. It is a timeless tale and the retelling of it is enchanting and hilarious.
THANKYOU Drake!! I am so excited, I have not seen the promos. That is super that someone out there heard us and brought bacK Merlin!!
Yeah!!!!!!
Merlin is coming back to the USA on the SYFY channel on April 2nd at 10pm. Right after Stargate Universe. I can’t believe noone’s seen the previews for it. They have a back to back marathon of season 1 before they show season 2 on April 2nd.
I already have the marathon set up to record on my dvr. I have been waiting for months for this date to get here!
I would love to see Melin return for 5 more seasons, it is a very good family show clean fun for the whole family, and who doesn’t like the story of Merlin.
I think I phrased that (the above) incorrectly. Let me say I am out of work at this time, but if the price was low enough, I would buy it.