The Winter King SERIES PREMIERE Sunday, Aug. 20, 9/8c, MGM+

CHIVALRY IS NOT dead—at least onscreen. See: the countless film and TV versions of the medieval King Arthur legend, in which good and brave knight Arthur Pendragon battles for the heart and soul of a kingdom

- Kate Hahn

This 10-episode drama, based on author Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles trilogy and set in 5th century Britain, has a fresh tilt that makes the hero even more impressive: his painful origin story as an outcast.

“Arthur is trying to reconcile with childhood trauma and face the harsh realities of what it means to become a leader for [moral] good,” says former Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Iain De Caestecker (above).“We first meet him living under the weight of the title of bastard son, having spent his life all but rejected by his father.”