Celebrated comic book writer and artist Frank Miller hasn’t yet written (or, at least, finished) Cursed, but that hasn’t stopped Netflix from ordering a 10-episode series based on the Arthurian novel.
According to a release from Netflix, the book — an illustrated affair to be co-penned by Miller and Tom Wheeler — and the series will be yet another reimagining of the King Arthur fiction, told this time from the perspective of Nimue, “a teenage heroine with a mysterious gift who is destined to become a powerful (and tragic) Lady of The Lake.” Nimue will join forces with Arthur himself in his quest to find the wizard Merlin and deliver “an ancient sword” (Excalibur?). Miller and Wheeler will serve as showrunners.
Miller is a modern comic legend who first gained recognition with Daredevil No. 158 in May 1979. In the years since, he is authored a number of popular comic books and graphic novels, including Ronin, 300, The Dark Knight Returns, and Sin City. He’s known for incorporating a film noir style into his writing and illustration, and for his use of Franco-Belgian (bandes dessinées) and Japanese (manga) styles as well. Miller has dipped his toes in the film world as well, directing The Spirit, producing 300 and co-directing both Sin City movies — along with Robert Rodriguez — and he’s written several screenplays, including those adapted and used for RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3.
Wheeler, meanwhile, is a TV writer by trade, having cut his teeth on ABC’s 2005 miniseries Empire before going on to serve as executive producer and showrunner for NBC’s 2011 superhero drama The Cape, which ran for one season before cancellation due to low ratings. Wheeler will be the lead author on Cursed (the book), while Miller will lend his illustrative talents. The book is due out in 2019.
The Arthurian legend has been mined repeatedly over the years, though more often for feature-length films (see: King Arthur, The Sword in The Stone, Excalibur, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) than for television series. The most prominent works to fall in the latter category include Merlin (twice), Camelot, and Once Upon A Time. Few of these received any significant acclaim from critics, so it will be interesting to see if Netflix can turn things around. Other new Netflix plans include two Carmen Sandiego projects and a potential Obama family series.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.