The Daily Wire’s CEO to direct their most ambitious project yet, a streaming series based upon Stephen R. Lawhead’s Arthurian book series called The Pendragon Cycle.
Who is Stephen R. Lawhead? Lawhead is a Christian writer who has written numerous fantasy novels, focusing on the medieval and dark ages period in Europe, which have an often Celtic and pre-history origin-of-Christendom flavor. Myth and legend combine in his Arthurian, Crusades, Robin Hood, and Dragon-laden re-imaginings. Additionally, he has veered into sci-if in moments, such as in his Empyrion Saga & Dream Thief, but he is most known for his fantasy and historical fiction work.
Go here to see Lawhead’s website.
But can Boreing do it? And what of his CEO duties? Daily Wire writes that Boreing will take a leave of absence to direct the 7-part series in Italy & Hungary while Caleb Robinson takes over his CEO duties in the states. With production slated in September, this could be as long as 3 to 6 months of production. So I’m guessing Jeremy Boreing will return home just in time for his yearly Daily Wire Townhall address, where hopefully he will give his full update on the production this winter, instead of in the fall.
But what makes Pendragon so important for him to take it upon himself to direct it? I don’t know, but my guess is it has to do with the significance of the story itself. As they write in the Daily Wire: what makes Pendragon special for Boreing is the profound impact it had on his life, stating that it “…shaped my worldview… since reading it as a teenager.” This was obviously something that impressed on him a need to develop these stories further, to the point of purchasing the rights and bringing it to the screen, as director if need be.
But will it reach the silver screen? This will not be a film, but a 7-episode series that, they report, will cover the first two books, Taliesin & Merlin, of the five book series. They do not report on how many seasons this series will expand into, but I am going to guess, more than two seasons. If that is the case, this may reach a “The Chosen”, or a “Game of Thrones”-level of popularity, which could possibly reach theaters for the season finale experience. Imagine that! A “Daily Wire Game of Thrones!”
You don’t want to count those chickens, or speculate on the quality too much, too early, however. We have never seen Boreing’s directing style, and I have never seen his co-director, Ryan Whitaker’s, who recently made the film “Surprised by Oxford” which looks like a romantic drama. But my hope is that their producers (Presmyk & Sonnier) can get them the best assets on set to make sure they reach a certain level of quality, especially with the action, which can be challenging on these sword+sandal epics.
Their newly signed cinematographers may give them a stylistic look, Tamas Dobos coming from some very naturalistic scenes with a Northern Macedonian film called Willow (not related to the LucasFilm franchise that Kathleen Kennedy ruined), and Kristopher Kimlin is coming from an Angel Studios film that just finished shooting, dark sci-fi The Shift. Neither seems to have very much action under their belt, but again, I haven’t really seen these films, only some trailers. The Shift could have some very interesting vibes, containing sci-fi, noir, drama, magical realism, and suspense elements, possibly a bit Terry Gilliam-inspired.
We will see what kind of series this is; whether a Game of Thrones fantasy or a more naturalistic historical fiction style, soon enough. The series is now in pre-production in Italy and Hungary according to Deadline and I’m betting on there being a spring 2024 trailer coming.
Iron Age Media writes about Pendragon here as well as Lorehaven, here.
The Daily Wire made their initial announcement here in this video, but again, we hope that Daily Wire will start to offer more of their own in-house entertainment updates, possibly with another news outlet like Media Moses, or Breitbart, or PJ Media, or somebody.
Daily Wire’s Fall 2022 Townhall on YouTube. Nov 17, 2022.
Did you enjoy this article? Are you happy to hear that Jeremy is hard at work on Pendragon, or does this concern you that DW will be “god-king-less” while he is away? Let us know on our social media, or comment down below (with subscription).
