A CHRISTIAN Story?! Exploring the #1 Fantasy Show in America with @jeremyboreing

Overview

Frank Turek opens with an update about a possible lawsuit over security at Utah Valley University surrounding Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Turek recounts meeting the university’s police chief months afterward and asking why buildings overlooking the event weren’t covered. He says the chief blamed Kirk’s team for arriving that morning rather than the day before. Turek argues that the university had far more officers protecting his later visit than it had at Kirk’s event.

Jeremy Boreing adds that negligence can happen without bad intentions. He says accountability could expose a broader problem with how campuses provide security for conservative speakers.

The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin

The main conversation focuses on Boreing’s fantasy series, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin, adapted from Stephen R. Lawhead’s novels. Boreing first tried to write a screenplay based on the books when he was 21. Nearly 30 years later, he finally brought the story to the screen.

Set in sub-Roman Britain, the series follows Merlin and the early Arthurian legend in a world where Christianity is already part of the history. Boreing describes it as a story about Christians, not a fantasy allegory for Christianity. He says Arthurian legend itself is fundamentally Christian.

Boreing hopes the show will offer an alternative to what he sees as the bleakness of modern fantasy and cinema. He contrasts Game of Thrones, which he calls subversive in its nihilism, with The Pendragon Cycle, which he hopes will be subversive through its rejection of nihilism and emphasis on hope. The series’ vivid colors and melodic score reflect that approach, in contrast to the gray visuals and droning music Boreing says have become common.

Filmed in Budapest, the production involved hundreds of people and multiple directing crews. Turek praises its cinematography and effects as comparable to those of major Hollywood productions.

Faith and storytelling

A major theme of the conversation is how to make Christian art without turning it into a sermon. Boreing argues that overtly “Christian” works can become propaganda—something people feel obliged to support but don’t actually want to watch.

He echoes C. S. Lewis’s distinction between Christian playwrights and playwrights who are Christians. Strong art, Boreing argues, can communicate a worldview through compelling characters and emotion, reaching people who might resist a direct argument. Tolkien’s fairy stories and Jesus’s parables come up as examples of storytelling that conveys deeper truths.

Boreing also reflects on how Christianity shaped him. Growing up in the 1990s, he encountered a softer form of cultural Christianity. The Pendragon books and Braveheart helped him see that Christians had historically faced real costs for their faith. He connects the series’ themes to a present-day moment when Christianity’s cultural influence is being challenged.

In a broader discussion of faith and culture, Boreing says materialism and naturalism help explain many aspects of the modern world but can’t fully account for human purpose and meaning.

Mature themes

Boreing says the series includes violence, death, sexuality, and other mature themes. He believes parents should decide what’s appropriate for their children and suggests that a mature 13-year-old might be ready, though the show isn’t aimed at children.

Turek jokes that “the Bible’s rated R,” while agreeing that the show isn’t gratuitous. When they discuss a romantic scene, Turek jokes that his wife covered his eyes—and that he trusted Boreing not to show too much.

Personalities featured

• Frank Turek — Host
• Jeremy Boreing — Guest; filmmaker and writer-director of The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin