The new History Channel TV series Knightfall, an hour-long drama that charts the quest of the Knights Templar for the Holy Grail, premiered in the US last night to some lukewarm reviews.
In the Czech Republic, the series will premiere tomorrow night, December 8, on HBO (the History Channel is not broadcast locally). From today, however, local subscribers can catch the first episode on the streaming service HBO GO.
Knightfall stars Downton Abbey’s Tom Cullen as a Crusades veteran who leads the Knights Templar on their quest for the Holy Grail.
The series was executive produced by Jeremy Renner (Wind River), who is said to have a cameo role, and was shot at Prague’s Barrandov Studios over the summer and fall of 2016. Renner was on set for filming, and came back to the Czech Republic earlier this year to attend the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Filming on Knightfall in Prague was notably interrupted by a late-summer fire that completely destroyed a medieval village set. The set had to be rebuilt from scratch before filming could resume, at an estimated cost of 100 million crowns ($4 million).
Early reviews have not been overly kind.
The series currently boasts a 50% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with ten critics split down the middle, and a 47% rating on Metacritic, with 9 out of 13 reviews rated as “mixed”.
“History’s attempt to partially clone ‘Vikings’ wants to be King Arthur or Robin Hood more than it wants to be about the Knights Templar,” writes The Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Fienberg.
If you set your expectations low, and just want something fairly mindless with acceptable swordplay and a couple of decent performances, you’ll be fine,” says Variety’s Maureen Ryan. “If you want anything more from this show, you’re likely to be let down.”
Still, the look of the show has been widely praised, with Prague sets at Barrandov Studios recreating 14th century Paris getting special mention.
The 10-episode series will air weekly through next February on the History Channel in the US and on HBO in the Czech Republic.
