And lo, as it came to pass on this many-splendored day, the lowest hearts were raised to yon dewiest heights, for it was reported that fair maiden Astrid Berges-Frisbey was cast as Lady Guinevere opposite that dude from Sons Of Anarchy.
Knights Of The Roundtable: King Arthur would be the first starring role in a Hollywood film for Berges-Frisbey (though she was pretty great in this past summer’s I Origins), an actress who got her start performing on French TV in 2007. She learned English after being cast as a mermaid in Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, a move now seen as the only tangible evidence of something good coming from the later installments of that franchise.
Being cast as Guinevere could potentially give Berges-Frisbey considerable job security, seeing as Warner Bros. is tentatively planning six installments of the franchise-to-be. Of course, there’s no word yet on whether or not that ambitious release plan is dependent upon Idris Elba and his desire to be a “Merlin-esque figure” in the films. But director Guy Ritchie and the studio are already planning for a summer 2016 release, giving Elba plenty of time to ponder the benefits of playing a version of Merlin more to Guy Ritchie’s liking, such as a hard-living Cockney wizard with a penchant for fisticuffs and rapid-fire montages.