Summary
MGM+’s Robin Hood provides a very serious take on the character and historical context in its two-part premiere, but for me, it isn’t offering enough – yet! – to qualify as must-see TV.
The biggest question swirling around MGM+’s prestige retelling of the Robin Hood story is whether or not we really need another Robin Hood story. And it’s not a question that I’m necessarily sure Episodes 1 and 2, “I See Him” and “A Heinous Devil”, answer satisfactorily. In this two-hour premiere, the pieces are all in place for a sweeping 12th-century epic; there are authentic costumes, whirlwind romances, Norman tyranny, and at one point Robin Hood shoots an arrow very far and fells a CGI deer. But it hews so close to the “canon” of the original legend and leans so heavily into the coming-of-age themes and romance that it almost misses the point of what’s fun about Robin Hood as an idea.
What’s also weird is how reminiscent this is of Billy the Kid, MGM+’s sneaky streaming hit that, perhaps not entirely coincidentally, is due to end soon. That was another period tale of outlaw derring-do that reimagined its lead as a very charismatic and handsome hero (as far as we can tell, the real-life Billy positively did not look like Tom Blyth), and made every effort to reinforce that idea. Gone – and I mean totally gone – is the kitschy Men in Tights idea of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. In its place is a proper drama, for better and worse, one that seeks to right the wrongs of those dafter interpretations by being very serious indeed.
The opening episodes are, unsurprisingly, an origin story, although to be fair, the entire season looks like it’s going to be that. But the two-part premiere is very much the kick-starting of a hero’s journey with a different-looking Robin Hood, both because he’s played by relative newcomer Jack Patten – good-looking guy, gives a compelling turn here, very much leading man material – and because he’s introduced as a put-upon Saxon toiling away under the Norman regime, a far cry from the heroic outlaw he’ll so inevitably become.
This is, to be fair, the Robin Hood story – that I’ve seen, anyway – with the most historical context. Showrunner John Glenn has made this a priority, reiterating that part of Robin Hood’s legend isn’t just that he was good with a bow and arrow, but that he’s symbolic of a fight against oppression. Following the Norman conquest of Great Britain, the Saxons were subjugated, stripped of their lands and heritage, and driven into extreme poverty. Rob’s meet-cute with Maid Marian (Lauren McQueen) comes about because her father, the Earl of Huntingdon (Steven Waddington), forcibly occupies Rob’s family home after the conquest. It’s hardly the most romantic set of circumstances.
For Marian, which we see play out in Episodes 1 and 2 of Robin Hood, Rob’s life has a sort of exotic quality that she finds compelling in comparison to her sheltered, extremely harsh upbringing under the yoke of her father. Despite this, though, she’s from the ruling class, so doesn’t quite get the severity of anti-Saxon prejudice, which rails not just against their lands and livelihoods but their culture, customs, and religion, too. One of the key sequences finds Marian attending a Pagan wedding that she later recounts to Priscilla (Lydia Peckham), the sexpot daughter of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Sean Bean, obviously), as though it were some kind of fantastical ritual, and not just a bunch of farmers getting drunk in a field.
The Sheriff is a more interesting figure in this. He’s still a villain, obviously, and the public execution he orders of Rob’s father for a crime he didn’t commit is the event that precipitates his shift into outlaw, but he’s more of a reluctant figure, a doting father who feels trapped between his instincts and his obligations. That’s a more nuanced take than the character usually gets to enjoy, and it gives Bean a lot more to do. But there’s no real mystery about whose side we’re supposed to be on.
Ultimately, it’s hard to argue with Robin Hood. It’s sumptuously detailed and the production team have pulled off a remarkable feat with how compelling everything looks, the performances are thus far strong – peep Patten’s very physical performance during his father’s execution, when he looks away – and the seriousness with which the historical context is being treated makes for a more valuable interpretation of what has boiled down over the years to a campy cliché. But little I’ve seen in Episodes 1 and 2 is enough to really convince me that we’re seeing anything other than another pretty good period drama. Since 2025 has been stuffed with really high-quality ones – hello, Chief of War – it’s hard to imagine, thus far anyway, how this one is going to become the watercooler sensation that MGM+ is banking on it being. But you never know.
RELATED:
