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Joe Rogan recently interviewed Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. During their three-hour discussion, Avary mentioned that he\u2019s been watching the show The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin on Daily Wire+. He had high praise for the show, comparing it to the classic King Arthur movie, Excalibur.<\/p>\n
\u201cMainstay producers are no longer reliable,\u201d he complained, adding that they\u2019re spending billions of dollars to make \u201cLord of the Rings things,\u201d while Pendragon was made for very little and has flown under the radar of pop culture. He admitted that he went into the show thinking he wasn\u2019t going to like it, but was pleasantly surprised: \u201cThis is, to me, as good as classic television.\u201d<\/p>\n
So why aren\u2019t more people watching the show?<\/p>\n
I reviewed The Pendragon Cycle for GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT<\/a>. To say that I am \u201cnot its target audience\u201d is a mixed statement. I love Arthurian legend, but the show and the novels it was based on embrace Christian themes that I was sure would feel too proselytizing. I agreed to review it out of curiosity, but I wasn\u2019t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. Rise of the Merlin should work for a wide audience, but for some reason, it isn\u2019t getting the attention it deserves.<\/p>\n Major Critics Refuse To Review The Pendragon Cycle<\/p>\n Major critics are not reviewing The Pendragon Cycle. The only reviews being given are from content creators and pre-existing fans of its host service, The Daily Wire. Despite advertising on social media, YouTube<\/a>, and releasing trailers, very little attention has been given to Rise of the Merlin. Even Melania got the courtesy of bad reviews from the press.<\/p>\n However, The Daily Wire has been controversial since its inception<\/a>. The website and its streaming<\/a> service are viewed as a far-right news channel, and many of its key figures have incited the anger of its political rivals. <\/p>\n Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and Matt Walsh are all associated with the channel, as well as other strictly conservative commentators who are very public-facing and often outspoken. Since much of the entertainment industry is progressive, they don\u2019t agree with the politics espoused by The Daily Wire\u2019s news arm.<\/p>\n The Pendragon Cycle Is Locked Behind A Paywall <\/p>\n Most people who subscribe to The Daily Wire are conservatives who are looking for conservative news and viewpoints. The Pendragon Cycle is limited to these viewers because The Daily Wire focuses mainly on non-fiction content. Most of its programming is news, commentary, and history. The majority of its fictional programming is kids\u2019 television.<\/p>\n The streamer\u2019s entertainment division is also less than a decade old and hasn\u2019t produced much original content. The movies they have produced have been well-received by audiences\u00a0but panned by critics:\u00a0Run, Hide, Fight, which I have seen, scored 93% with audiences on\u00a0Rotten Tomatoes<\/a>\u00a0but only\u00a030% with reviewers. Audiences seem to enjoy the content on Daily Wire+, when they can access it.<\/p>\n There is not enough content on Daily Wire+ to be competitive with other small streamers like Shudder. This means that the quality entertainment The Daily Wire has been producing has not only been ignored by biased critics but also siloed away behind a paywall that has a niche audience. Their content is better than niche, and The Pendragon Cycle in particular is an incredible cinematic achievement that showcases what The Daily Wire is capable of.<\/p>\n How To Get Rise Of Merlin The Attention It Deserves<\/p>\n Given the difficulty Daily Wire+ is having getting people to sign up, they should consider licensing properties like The Pendragon Cycle for distribution beyond their service. Not only do these movies deserve to be seen, but they also have a much wider potential audience beyond the \u201cfar right.\u201d <\/p>\n If Rise of Merlin had the chance to compete for viewership based on its merit rather than on whether or not someone is conservative enough to sign up for Daily Wire+, it would almost certainly succeed. In a world filled with slop created by the unreliable mainstream, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is the ideal alternative. Slop eaters<\/a> will always slurp up their Rings of Power episodes, but the rest of the world would happily flock to the show. <\/p>\n People often complain that conservatives don\u2019t create good art, but it\u2019s easy to pretend that when their art isn\u2019t even acknowledged. If you\u2019re looking for good programming, heed Avary\u2019s advice and get over the fact that The Pendragon Cycle was produced by The Daily Wire. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jennifer Asencio | Published 7 seconds ago Joe Rogan recently interviewed Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,52641,14209,238,147589,147284,147285,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-289631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-joe-rogan","12":"tag-opinions","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-roger-avary","15":"tag-the-daily-wire","16":"tag-the-pendragon-cycle-rise-of-the-merlin","17":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pendragon-s1e5-a_0007_Pendragon-Taliesin-Scream-16x9.png-900x506.jpg\")
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