It feels like every generation gets its own Robin Hood, but MGM+’s new ten-part series might just be the most grounded and politically aware take we’ve ever had. Forget the tights, trumpets, and tree-dwelling jollity. This is a show built from mud, blood, and the deep scars of conquest.
A Legend Reforged
From the opening episode, it’s clear this isn’t the usual story of noblemen and merry men. Traditionally, Robin Hood tales are set during the reign of King Richard the Lionheart or Prince John, but this version shifts the timeline back a few decades to the rule of King Henry II.
That choice, say creators Jonathan English and John Glenn, was very deliberate. “Eleanor of Aquitaine was effectively imprisoned in England during that period,” explains English. “She had rebelled against Henry II, and he sent her there to isolate her. We wanted to explore that moment because it connects the story to the real aftermath of the Norman Conquest.”
Glenn adds, “It opens up rebellion as a multifaceted thing. Rob rebels through action, Marian through diplomacy, and Eleanor through politics. That gives us a much broader canvas to tell stories from different perspectives, rather than just a binary hero-versus-tyrant dynamic.”
At the heart of the story is Jack Patten’s Rob of Locksley, a forester’s son whose life is torn apart by injustice. Patten gives a strong, grounded performance. His Robin isn’t a mythic archer yet, but a man stumbling into rebellion. Opposite him, Lauren McQueen’s Marian is superb. A noblewoman who loves a Saxon and tries to fight the same battle from within the system.
McQueen told us, “Marian was described as daring and courageous. Even in that first episode, when she’s being abused by her father, she’s got that resilience and inner strength. Through the series, she grows, becomes more confident, and finds her voice.”
Patten’s Rob is a man wrestling with vengeance and reluctant leadership. A hero forged through hardship rather than destiny. As Jack explained:
“That’s what he’s tussling with throughout the entire series. He’s asking himself what he really wants… I think he places that pressure on himself to do the vengeance thing, but part of him does want that for sure. Nothing’s black and white here, and that’s what makes this version of Rob so interesting.”
Power, Faith & Politics
Where most versions treat politics as background noise, this one lives and breathes it. The show smartly ties the story to real historical tensions such as Norman law, forest rights, and Church corruption… all the things that made ordinary Saxons feel like strangers in their own country.
The writers also weave in questions of faith and mythology. “We wanted that comparison between Norman Christianity and the older Saxon, pagan beliefs,” says Glenn. “It’s part of the world’s canvas. Faith, superstition, and the forest itself as something sacred.”
That connection to history isn’t just thematic. “In that period, most of England was still covered in forest,” English explained. “From Dover to London and all the way north to Nottingham, it was almost continuous woodland. We wanted that scale. The forest as a frontier between civilisation and freedom.”
Sean Bean brings weary authority as the Sheriff of Nottingham, less pantomime villain, more exhausted bureaucrat trying to uphold Norman law. And then there’s Connie Nielsen as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the show’s most magnetic forces.
Eleanor’s Prison and Power
This isn’t the free-roaming Eleanor of legend. She’s effectively a prisoner in a golden cage, forbidden from leaving England after rebelling against Henry. But captivity hasn’t dulled her mind.
“When we meet Eleanor,” Nielsen told us, “she’s been kept in a tower for the better part of ten years, allowed one dress a year. She’s determined to protect the rights of her children and to restore order to a chaotic realm. She’s not a manipulator, she’s an arbiter. She truly believes in what she’s doing.”
Her relationship with Marian also becomes one of the show’s most touching dynamics. “Eleanor sees purity being abused,” Nielsen said. “She’s trying to teach this young woman how to survive in a hostile world without becoming part of its ugliness.”
It’s a beautifully layered performance: pragmatic, moral, and entirely believable.
The Forest As Frontier
One of the most striking things the show gets right is how enormous and dangerous “the forest” really was. In the 12th century, the royal forests covered as much as a third of England, and this land was under harsh “forest law.” Sherwood isn’t a quaint backdrop but a vast, living border between law and freedom. You can almost smell the wood smoke and mud through the screen.
Friar Tuck, played by Angus Castle-Doughty, is another highlight. A sharp, idealistic Norman priest, disgusted by his own Church’s greed. He gives the outlaws their conscience, a far cry from the usual jolly drunk in brown robes.
Realism Over Romance
The violence here feels sudden and ugly, the victories short-lived. Rob’s band of outlaws. The Millers, Little John, the thief who loses his partner in a raid, are scarred, desperate people rather than cheery sidekicks. Every choice comes with a cost, and even faith starts to fray as vengeance creeps in.
That moral murkiness is what makes this version fascinating. The line between justice and revenge blurs until even the heroes can’t tell the difference. It’s less “rob from the rich, give to the poor” and more “what does justice look like when the law itself is corrupt?”
Verdict
This Robin Hood takes a thousand-year-old myth and makes it feel newly relevant. It’s about empire, class, and the birth of English identity, told through human emotion instead of folklore shorthand. The performances are uniformly strong, the production looks stunning, and the writing gives the legend real moral weight.
It might lose a little pacing in the middle as plots within plots unfold, but when it hits, it hits hard. It’s gritty, thoughtful, and beautifully acted. A Robin Hood that finally earns the word “legendary.”
Rating: 4/5
‘Robin Hood’ premieres on MGM+ in the US and UK on Sunday, 2nd November 2025, with new episodes weekly through December.
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