The characters that populate Netflix's Cursed are among the most iconic literary creations of all time. You just might not know it until the finale. Created by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler, the new Netflix series pulls from Arthurian Legend and reinvents the familiar through the perspective of Nimue, aka the Lady in the Lake, and her ascension from village outsider to Wolf Blood Witch to Queen of the Fey. That journey brings her into direct conflict with the Red Paladins, a fanatical sect of the Church razing the fey population to the ground, with great thanks to their mysterious warrior.

Played by Daniel Sharman, the so-called Weeping Monk is a looming figure of death and destruction his face ever-painted with dark tear-stains running down his cheeks. We get glimpses at the man beneath the monster along the way, most notably when he spares the fey boy Squirell, who we later learn is a new take on Percival. But it doesn't all come together until the end, when we learn that the fiery and quick-footed young boy isn't the only future Knight of the Roundtable in town. As the finale reveals, the Weeping Monk is none other than Lancelot, one of the most well-known figures in Arthurian Lore.

With Cursed now on Netflix, we had the chance to talk with Sharman and the creators about crafting their new take on the character, and what the big finale reveal means for the character we first met as a villainous fey-hunter.

Miller, the celebrated comic book and graphic novel author behind titles like Daredevil: Born Again and The Dark Knight Returns, created the art for the novelization and co-created the series. And he was enthused to talk about why Cursed's take on Lancelot honed in on the character's long-established perfectionism, and the darker elements always coursing beneath it.

"I think it's the only way Lancelot makes sense because Lancelot is a fanatic. He is the best swordsman and he is driven by unholy passions and hates himself for it. He cheats on his best friend and curses himself for it. That's about as Catholic as it gets. So all of that's of a piece to me, that that's who Lancelot is.

 

And so, yes, he is the best swordsman. He is a noble man, but he is his... I mean, when you first meet him in Cursed, he's a mysterious assassin who certainly has yet to find his way. And then of course, he becomes just as fanatic about being the good guy and then cheats on his King. It's just this a character of unbelievable passion. And he's a little crazy. Yeah."

Wheeler added,

"He seems like a tortured guy. He's fighting against something internal that is so powerful and so motivating for him, but so conflicted that it just was really about having him aware of that conflict more. And then I think when the idea of just maybe hiding the bomb in terms of who the Weeping Monk actually was, the whole idea of starting with Nimue gives you all kinds of new avenues for meeting these characters. So you kind of can shake loose previous ideas of them, as long as you, and Frank and I talked about this a lot, as long as you stay loyal to who they are at their core."

For Miller and Wheeler in the writing phase, as well as Sharman's take on the character, the core of Lancelot boiled down to fanaticism. "Lancelot is a fanatic in every incarnation," Miller explained, "and that's why he's such a tortured soul in every incarnation of him. And it's also why he's such a superb fighter and such a grand hero."

When I brought up Miller and Wheeler's focus on Lancelot's fanaticism with Sharman, the actor was quick to agree. "Rightfully so, because he thinks it's the crux of survival. If you believe something, then it will keep him alive and it will justify his actions. There's a lot that he has to hold on to and so fanaticism comes out of that, which is, 'I don't want to take anybody else's opinion on this. It's what I know is true.'"

When it came to balancing this new take on Lancelot with what he learned from the classic literature, Sharman was intrigued to investigate who the obsessive hero might have been before he became the passionate figure in the legends.

"A lot of things written about him were always his emotionality. I always thought how interesting to start with no emotion so that you get somewhere, so that the audience feel like they understand that this character has been bound for so many years. What would happen if he becomes unbound in a moment? What does that do? What does that do to his psychological character?"

For the actor, that meant tapping into the extremes of the character; the ones we traditionally associate with Lancelot and the extremity with which he might be repressing those traits. Specifically, Cursed finds Lancelot under the thrall of The Red Paladins, flagellating himself before god, and turning on his own kind in pursuit of his redemption. For Sharman, he channeled that side of the character through:

"His perfectionism and also his loyalty; his insane sense of loyalty in this being broken and fundamentally his trust being ripped apart. It then causes a moral war to rage within himself constantly that he has to come to terms with and rectify. I kind of liked that those were the central themes of his character and then you could get there. I was trying to see how far could you go the other way to get to the Lancelot that we know. How much could you subvert it? That's what largely I did, was to start with someone who had no empathy and no ability to relate. That's why you see the Weeping Monk, that's the beginning."

Who will he become now that we've moved past the beginning? Cursed's finale offers a glimpse at a more valiant side of the character when he stands up against the Red Paladins and single-handedly fends off the Trinity Guards in order to protect young Percival. In the end, he rides off wounded, but alive, saddled on the back of a horse with his new young ward. They may not look like the Knights of the Round Table we know from the classic stories, but the finale seems sends them riding into night, poised to start their journey towards Arthur and the Sword of Power.

Cursed is now streaming on Netflix. For more, check out what the cast and creators told us about their new take on Morgana.