THE LETTER FOR THE KING
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Writer Will Davies and star Ruby Serkis
introduce us to the mythic new world of
Netfl ix fantasy The Letter For The King“These are fantastic characters,
it’s an amazing quest and it’s an incredible
world that it all takes place in,” enthuses
Will Davies, writer and executive producer
for Netfl ix’s new family-friendly adventure
The Letter For The King. Based on Dutch
author Tonke Dragt’s eponymous best-selling
novel, this sword and sorcery epic has all the
key ingredients of any binge-worthy series: a
brave hero, insurmountable odds and an evil
plot. However, throw a youthful cast forced
to do battle with an older generation intent
on destroying everything into the mix, and
it suddenly becomes all very timely. “The
idea of these young people navigating their
way through a very broken world feels very
real to the period we’re in,” suggests Davies
between shifts in the VFX room. “This felt
like a huge opportunity to not only make the
story feel more relevant – but to recapture
the reason why everyone in Holland had
been excited about it for so long.”
And excited they were. Translated into
13 different languages and adapted into a
2008 Dutch feature fi lm, Dragt’s 1962 tale
of a young squire whose fate is forever
changed following a chance encounter was
an international hit. Although despite these
successes, The Letter For The King remained
largely unknown among English-speaking
audiences – until now.
“It begins with a boy who desperately
wants to become a knight and fi nally
gets the opportunity to do so,” explains
Davies, shedding some light on our hero
Tiuri, played by His Dark Materials’ star
Amir Wilson. “During the last part of the
challenge he has to sit in a vigil in this veryfrightening chapel and stay there all night.
Then something happens and he’s faced with
a choice: is he going to do what he has to do
to become the thing he’s always wanted to
be or is he going to respond to something
his heart is telling him to do, even though it
means risking everything?”
This chance encounter sends Tiuri on a
perilous quest to deliver a secret letter to
the king that could stop an evil prince from
sending the world spiralling into darkness.
Along the way, he meets a group of brave and
like-minded young warriors who help him
on his crusade, whilst learning of a mythic
prophecy about a hero destined to restore
peace and some secrets regarding his own
past. “When we were beginning to develop
the series it was at the time of the Syrian
Refugee Crisis and all the confl icted views
different countries were having about it,”
says Davies on the show’s resonant themes.
“That idea got mixed into Tiuri’s back story.
He doesn’t know about his past and on the
course of this journey away from the place
he thinks of as home, he fi nds out what his
roots were. He discovers what his mother
went through, what happened to his real
father, as well as what he’s capable of.”
Before long, Tiuri fi nds himself in the
trading town of Mistrinaut where he meets
the cunning mayor’s daughter Lavinia,
played by newcomer Ruby Serkis. “She
knows exactly what she wants,” smiles
Serkis. “She comes from a really corrupt
town. When Lavinia fi rst meets Tiuri it’s
because she wants to steal his horse so she
can use it to go on her own quest. She’s very
independent and confi dent with an element
of sass – it was very empowering to play.
She’s very clever and very worldly having
grown up in a horrible place like Mistrinaut.
Even her relationship with her dad is all
based on money, bounty hunting and trying
to exploit people, so when she meets Tiuri
she’s very much of that mindset.”
Davies agrees that Lavinia is far from
trustworthy: “She looks at Tiuri and reads
his purity and innocence as complete
naivety. She sees him as somebody that
she can take advantage of and use for her
own purposes – and yet inside she needsWORDS SIMON BLAND