Line #8 Trivia/Merlin2008


1	!!Trivia Tropes
2
3	* AbilityOverAppearance:
4	** Given the time-period and the fact that Guinevere means "white" or "fair one", there were some raised eyebrows over mixed-race Creator/AngelCoulby getting the part of the future queen. The producers said that they had looked at hundreds of potential Guineveres, but Creator/AngelCoulby was the only one that could nail the quirky, clumsy servant girl, but also "bring the queen" when the occasion called for it.
5	** Producers liked Creator/KatieMcGrath's audition but were hesitant to cast her due to the Irish accent. But since Creator/ColinMorgan was able to do an English accent, this allowed them to cast Katie and have her use her natural Irish accent.
6	* ActingForTwo:
7	** Creator/EveMyles in [[Recap/MerlinS01E01TheDragonsCall "The Dragon's Call"]] plays both Lady Helen and Mary Collins, the witch who steals Helen's identity (even before she does, under old age makeup).
8	** Also Colin Morgan has portrayed a total of ''three'' different characters including standard Merlin, Dragoon/Emrys, and Dolma. How he manages to pull off making all three different characters with different quirks is amazing.
9	* BillingDisplacement:
10	** Angel Coulby is credited before Creator/BradleyJames in the opening credits; a little strange considering Arthur is the show's {{Deuteragonist}}. Speculation is that Angel went first because she was the most established cast member at the inception of the show, or that the names are simply in alphabetic order after Colin Morgan.
11	** In the episode [[Recap/MerlinS05E04AnothersSorrow ''Another's Sorrow'']], James Fox is ranked before Janet Montgomery, even though Montgomery is in nearly every scene of the episode and Fox's role barely constitutes a cameo.
12	* BreakupBreakout: All of the cast has done pretty well in the years following the show's ending, though the most recognizable stars are Asa Butterfield (who played young Mordred) who has since starred in Hollywood films such as ''Film/TheBoyInTheStripedPyjamas'', ''Film/EndersGame'', and ''Film/MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren'', and Tom Hopper (who played Percival) who went on to projects such as ''Series/BlackSails'' and ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy''.
13	* ChannelHop: In the USA, the first season aired on NBC during the Summer of 2009. From the second series onwards it was transferred to fellow [=NBCUniversal-owned=] network Creator/{{Syfy}}, where it faired much better than it did on broadcast TV. It stayed there for the rest of its run.
14	* DeletedRole: Creator/EmiliaFox as Morgause was all set to return after her death (at the start of season four) in order to appear to Morgana in a vision and give her the coin that she later uses to resurrect Lancelot. The scene was cut and never released on [=DVD=], though there are some promotional shots out there.
15	* DyeingForYourArt: Katie [=McGrath=] is naturally blonde. She dyed her hair brown and "stays out of the sun" to play Morgana.
16	* FakeBrit: Colin Morgan is Northern Irish and affects an English accent for Merlin. Katie [=McGrath=] as well to a smaller extent, as she keeps her own Irish accent - and neither of her parents ever appear on the show, so one could assume they were Irish too.
17	* HideYourPregnancy: Emilia Fox was pregnant for most of season 3; it was hidden with her tunics but not always entirely successfully.
18	* OutOfOrder:
19	** 3X08 ("The Eye of the Phoenix") and 3X10 ("Queen of Hearts") were switched around in order to boost ratings, which did some pretty serious continuity damage to Morgana and Guinevere's relationship. And ironically, "Queen of Hearts" ended up being the highest rated episode thus far.
20	** 2x07 ("The Witchfinder") was originally meant to be 2x04, but was pushed back.
21	* PlayingAgainstType:
22	** Emilia Fox usually played doe-eyed Woobies in period dramas, or else a forensic doctor on the show ''Silent Witness''. A LadyOfBlackMagic like Morgause was quite different for her.
23	** Creator/CharleneMcKenna, who plays Lamia, was best known for her role as a HardDrinkingPartyGirl on ''{{Series/Raw}}'' or else other GenkiGirl roles. Seeing her as such a dark villain is extremely different.
24	* RomanceOnTheSet: Bradley James and Creator/GeorgiaKing (Princess Elena) started dating after [[Recap/MerlinS03E06TheChangeling "The Changeling"]]. Hilariously ironic given that their characters mutually agreed to call off their ArrangedMarriage after coming clean with the fact that they definitely don't love each other. Apparently the actors felt a bit differently.
25	* ShrugOfGod: Good luck getting a clear answer on how exactly Merlin and Gaius are related. According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt2npJPDSso&playnext=1&list=PL186B53CA68C875F2&feature=results_video Richard Wilson]], Merlin's mother Hunith is Gaius's step-sister, sister-in-law and/or his [[ChildhoodFriends Childhood Friend]]. Elsewhere, the creators have said that he is Merlin's uncle - though ''haven't'' said whether this makes him a brother to Hunith or to Balinor. It's never been spelt out in the show itself.
26	* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Creator/NathanielParker (Agravaine) apparently joined the cast because his children were fans of the show.
27	* StarMakingRole: Creator/KatieMcGrath has had lots of success thanks to the show - leading to high profile gigs such as ''Series/Dracula2013'', ''Film/JurassicWorld'' and ''{{Series/Supergirl 2015}}''.
28	* ThrowItIn: Arthur smushing his foot in Merlin's face in ''[[Recap/MerlinS01E10TheMomentOfTruth The Moment of Truth]]'' was ad-libbed by Bradley, and Colin's reaction is real.
29	* TrollingCreator:
30	** The more fans complain about Arthur being conveniently knocked out, the more it happens on show. It's gone from only happening a couple of times per season to a OnceAnEpisode occurrence, and has even extended to Merlin once.
31	** Likewise, constantly teasing TheReveal, [[TheUnreveal only to back out at the last second.]]
32	** Julian Murphy's DVDCommentary for the final episode. Good lord. Depending on who you talk to, he either confirmed Merlin/Arthur as canon or obnoxiously queerbaited for forty-five minutes. If you open up a discussion on the matter, be prepared for a FlameWar.
33	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
34	** Sir Leon was intended as a one-episode character. He proved popular with fans, and was featured more often. He became a series regular in Season 4.
35	** Creator/MattSmith [[https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-09-21/matt-smith-was-nearly-cast-in-merlin-instead-of-doctor-who-heres-why-he-didnt-get-the-part/#r3z-addoor was almost cast as Merlin]], while Creator/KarenGillan was up for Guinevere.
36	* WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings:
37	** The reason Bradley stopped updating his Website/{{Twitter}} account (it's still there but is no longer being updated by him personally), as "fans" started attacking his girlfriend on Twitter. The girlfriend in question, Georgia King, also closed down her Twitter account at the same time. [[http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/2012/01/01/actress-georgia-king-closes-twitter-account-after-being-targeted-by-jealous-fans-86908-23670909/ The whole thing warranted at least one newspaper to run with the story]].
38	** When it was announced that Bradley James and Creator/AngelCoulby would be be starring in a photo-shoot together for ''The Lady'' magazine (to supplement the Colin/Katie shoot of a few months ago), Colin/Bradley fans flooded the organiser's Twitter with [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6nzrgKFdF1rwbpu4o1_1280.png rude demands about how they'd rather have Colin than Angel]]. The organiser's [[http://oi45.tinypic.com/r0pbeo.jpg evident disgust]] in her reply would indicate that they've effectively killed any chance they might have had in convincing her to do a Bradley/Colin shoot.
39	* WordOfSaintPaul:
40	** In interviews Creator/KatieMcGrath was pretty adamant that Aithusa was female, though the only mention of the White Dragon's gender was when it was first introduced, when Kilgarrah refers to it as "he."
41	** Eoin Macken, who plays Gwaine, has mentioned that his character wouldn't react much if he discovered Merlin had magic. Given his gratitude towards the Euchdag and the fact that he only seems to truly hate sorcerers who commit crimes, this agrees with canon so far. Bradley James has also said that Arthur has reached the point where he's ready to learn about Merlin.
42	** Creator/RichardWilson, who plays Gaius, stated in the documentary series ''Magic and Secrets'' that Gaius was Hunith's older brother and Merlin's uncle. This never comes up in the series itself, so it seems to have been dropped.
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44	! General Trivia
45	* James Callis, who is best known for playing Gaius Baltar on ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica\|2003}}'', not only played opposite a character called Gaius on ''Merlin'', but rode a horse called Galactico.
46	* Creator/KatieMcGrath and Emilia Fox also played sisters in the TV movie ''The Queen''. (Not to be muddled up with the film version of ''Film/TheQueen.'')
47	* Uther's forehead scar is made by applying makeup to a natural crease in Anthony Head's forehead-the crease is prominent in most of his Buffy photos.
48	* Stories of the legendary Myth/KingArthur usually place the day in which he pulls the sword from the stone as December 25th. [[{{Recap/MerlinS04E13TheSwordInTheStonePartII}} The episode]] in which this version of Arthur pulls the sword from the stone first aired on Christmas Eve, 2011. (Though if you're an international viewer, there's a good chance that you watched it on Christmas Day).
49	* Creator/AngelCoulby and Creator/AnthonyHead have featured together in three projects: ''Film/ImagineMeAndYou'', ''Merlin'' and ''Series/DancingOnTheEdge''. They barely/don't interact in any of them.
50	** Make that four. They were in ''Manchild'' together, and actually do share a scene in which they briefly bond over a shared favorite movie -- and this was three years before they were in ''Merlin''!
51	* Creator/AngelCoulby and Janet Montgomery (Guinevere and Mithian) never interacted during the episode in which they both appeared, however, they are going to share several scenes in the upcoming drama ''Series/DancingOnTheEdge''.
52	** Though Bradley James and Janet Montgomery also featured together in ''Series/DisConnected'', along with Hunith, Sophia the Sidhe, and Sir Owaine.
53	* If you're a fan of ''Literature/MissMarple'', then the ITV adaptations starring Geraldine [=McEwan=]/Julia [=McKenzie=] is a line-up of familiar ''Merlin'' faces, including Morgause ("The Moving Finger"), Nimueh ("By the Pricking of My Thumbs"), Valiant ("Nemesis"), Lady Vivian ("Why Didn't They Ask Evans?"), Lady Catrina ("Sleeping Murder"), the Gleeman ("Sleeping Murder"), Edwin Muirden ("Ordeal By Innocence"), and the Witchfinder ("By the Pricking of My Thumbs").
54	** And from ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' we have the Callieach ("Five Little Pigs"), Queen Annis ("The Mystery of the Blue Train"), Enmyria ("At Bertram's Hotel"), Edwin Muirden (again) and Princess Elena ("Halloween Party").
55	* Emilia Fox (Morgause) is the RealLife niece of James Fox (King Rodor).
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Context Trivia / Merlin2008