Devon Terrell has just a five film or TV credits to his name, two of them pretty famous roles. In Barry, he played Barack Obama, and his most recent one is another famous leader, King Arthur in Cursed. Was it more intimidating playing the former president or the man who wielded Excalibur in lore?
"They're both super intimidating. I'd have to say…I know I'm doing Cursed at the moment, but to play Obama when, at that point, he'd come out of finishing his time in the office. Everyone knew that character, everyone had an idea, a lot of people had played it, so it was a lot of pressure. They both had their different challenges, but I'm excited that people are seeing this new depiction of Arthur," Terrell told E! News.
This new depiction of Arthur is what drew him to the role. Well, one of the aspects. What initially appealed to him?
"I'm going to be honest with you: Employment," he laughed. "On another note, I think it was exciting to have the opportunity as a person of color to play this role. As a young Black man, it was one of those things where I never expected this opportunity to come, so to get the opportunity to do that, I wanted to make an authentic, vulnerable character who people gravitated towards and who people could understand could become this myth and this legend."
Cursed follows Nimue (Katherine Langford), a young woman who would become the Lady of the Lake. Terrell's Arthur is Arthur without the title. Terrell said he did his fair share of research, reading different takes on the legendary character and his adventures that have been told time and time again.
The series is effects and action heavy. Terrell said they did a fair share of training, with horseback riding and sword fighting, which was a perk. Another plus? The outfit.
"I'm not going to lie: the leather outfit was my jam. It was my jam! But when it got blood inside of it, it's not the best feeling when you've got a sticky jam on your chest with leather on it, it's not the greatest feeling…It's kind of a dream come true," he said.
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Cursed is now streaming on Netflix.