Comic-Con seems to be the place to go for big announcements these days, especially in the world of Merlin.

This year, as well as teasing the return of Anthony Head as Uther in a guest spot for the upcoming Series 5, producer Johnny Capps announced that they were in discussion with the BBC about a sixth series. Also, he revealed that we might be looking forward to not one but a whole trilogy of Merlin films.

In the same breath, he dropped a bit of a bombshell: “One idea we’ve been playing around with is to reboot the whole series. We would go back in time and start the story again and show different parts that you didn’t see in the series. The other idea is to do a continuation, but we haven’t decided yet.”

Whether this is just ‘blue sky thinking’ or a toe in the water on the subject from the production team, we’re not quite sure. Here at CultBox we’d like to know what the Merlin fans think on the subject, so let’s consider some of the possible arguments for both approaches…

In favour of a reboot:

We have seen the start and end of the Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot love triangle, met and killed off Merlin’s father, pulled the Sword from the Stone and met the Fisher King. The series already looks set to take us to Camlaan and that implies the fall of Arthur. With most of the key Arthurian moments dealt with, where is there for a film trilogy to go? Unless the climatic end of Arthur’s life and its aftermath are what the films cover?

A movie redux gives the chance to restage some of those key moments with a larger cast and greater budget. Movies offer the chance for wider location filming, rather than just Pierrefonds and the Welsh hillsides.

Also, rebooting brings the opportunity for recasting and creating different takes on the major characters. Some members of the cast might not want to revisit storylines they have done before, allowing some bigger names to step in. Despite the show’s success and some enjoyable movie ventures (Parked, Fast Girls, A Christmas Princess), none of its young stars are a big deal at the box office quite yet.

The subject matter is enough of a drawer, so there is no need to be worried about the past. Iconic characters get reinvented for the big screen all the time and the past 20 years has quite happily coped with multiple versions of Batman, Sherlock Holmes, Spider-Man and Robin Hood. The Arthurian legends have been adapted before and will be again.

In favour of a continuation:

Television series can and do transition to cinemas with their casts and past history intact; just look at Star Trek: The Next Generation and Firefly. Yes, it’s a challenge to the writers to create a tale that’s open enough to reward the fans and also hook the casual viewer, but it’s certainly doable.

Taking the show to the big screen as a continuation would bring with it the support of the huge international die-hard Merlin fanbase who will have invested five, possibly six years in the development of these characters and their stories. Isn’t it more interesting to go further with these characters as they develop and deal with greater challenges?

Colin, Katie, Bradley, Angel and all have worked hard for a number of years and have grown with the show, so they should be the ones to reap the benefits of a cinema audience. If successful, Merlin films have the chance to take them from TV stars to household names.

Which would you prefer? Let us know below…

> Buy the Complete Series 4 boxset on Amazon.

Watch the Series 4 trailer…