Ksitetv.com | 21st December 2011

The fourth season of Merlin begins airing in the United States on Syfy Friday, January 6, and to get American audiences excited for the new episodes, Colin Morgan recently did a teleconference with several media outlets to promote the show’s return.

Here are some highlights of what Colin had to say.

– “Stories have become a lot powerful. They’ve become a lot more complex. They’re pushing connectors in directions that really there’s no going back on. So big shifts, big steps, big changes,” Colin says about changes as the show goes into its fourth year. “And of course, the tagline of the season this year is the darkest hour is just before the dawn. So that is a hint of the tone of the series. It definitely is much stronger.”

– And speaking of darkness, Morgan says that Katie McGrath’s “Morgana” is now “beyond redemption.” “I think that Merlin has definitely come to that conclusion. He’s given her chances. He’s tried to show her the good prop,” he says.

“Merlin knows that if magic part of you then you choose where to pick it. It doesn’t choose you. And he’s always chosen the good path. And she’s just gone by further, further. She’s kind of a bit power hungry now and she just wants – she wants power for herself and she wants the throne and she wants it all for her. And that’s (unintelligible) qualities. That’s irredeemable. And she is his ultimate nemesis in the series,” he continues.

– Keeping the magic secret will continue to be frustrating for Merlin. “His great dream is to live in a land where magic is free under the rule of the greatest king ever known,” Colin says, “and if he wants to be right in the open that people can live and gather that there isn’t the segregation, that there is no hiding anymore.”

“Yet for him it’s usually frustrating, because it’s a lonely existence,” he continues.

– How is the Merlin and Arthur relationship changing? Are they going to go more toward their traditional roles? “[Merlin]’s gaining wisdom and a certain kind of power in that wisdom and certainly imparts a lot of Arthur. And you’ve seen Arthur listen to him a lot more. You’re seeing Arthur in fact change the way he’s thinking sometimes because of what Merlin says,” Morgan says.

“But they’re also growing a little bit further apart. So Merlin has to work awful hard to try and be heard, and hopefully by the end of the season you’ll see that the relationship has come to the point where maybe they’re ready to set rules and set grounds and perhaps become a good team to rule the kingdom,” Colin continues. In this, Merlin will have even more maturity this year. “He’s really, really studying what Arthur is going through,” he says. “You know, he’s actually in a way experiencing what Arthur is experiencing. Arthur has got so much on his plate.And the kingdom is in its most dire need of strength at this stage. And it’s very much about Merlin engage in exactly where he is and what he should be doing. At one point in the season four he gets the biggest opportunity he’s ever going to get to change Arthur’s opinion about magic. And he takes it and it’s a big risk and he does and it’s one of the boldest decisions he’s made,” Morgan tells us.

“As an actor it’s interesting to really study the emotion he has about – that he’s going through. And in terms of friendship what’s – what do you do for good friend when they’re going through hell and yet you’ve got such a motive to make sure he gets through the other side to the future? And for again, a little bit of selfish reasons because Merlin wants to live in a land where he can be free. He’s got to keep everything as a balance and he’s got a lot on his plate. He’s literally, you know, juggling plates it’s – at one point. But there are bigger stakes and bigger objectives. And, you know, I don’t think Arthur’s never been in as much need of Merlin as he is now. The only problem is he doesn’t realize it,” Colin explains.

– What can Colin tell us about the soon-to-film fifth season of Merlin?

“We know nothing about it,” he says. “They keep things so secret from us for quite a while. We only find out really like three episodes at a time. So when we started season four I only knew episodes one, two and three. And then once we finish shooting those we get four, five and six. So I know nothing about season five. I only know that season four ends on such an intriguing note that they cannot do a fifth season and you’d have a lot of very upset people if we ended on that note,” he continues.

– Are the on-set pranks that the Merlin cast is famous for, still happening? “Yes. I mean I think it helps that, you know, we like to have a bit of fun and have a bit of a laugh whenever it’s needed for scenes and but also, you know, equally is important is to focus and concentrate on scenes that are a bit more emotional or require a bit more focus. So it’s about making the calls in the day and, yes it’s not all fun and games but it’s not all serious either.”

– With Morgana gone bad and Arthur getting closer to Gwen, will Merlin find love in Season 4? “Sorry to disappoint but no, there’s not going to be any love interest for Merlin this season unfortunately. It’s not something that the writers have explored. In legends, you know, Merlin was notoriously messed over by all the girls. So maybe they decided to keep him well away. But maybe I can have a few words and try to get someone going for the fifth season,” he says.

– Is Colin aware of the online fandom for “Merthur,” a Merlin and Arthur romantic pairing? “I keep my self pretty separate from it to be honest. I’m not a big Internet user. I don’t do blogs or Facebook or Twitter or anything like that. The only thing I have is an email account. And so I never have anything like that going on. So it’s always, I will say, you know, but if you’re looking for anything in any show in any form you can find it. It’s certainly something we stick very clearly to the scripts and play them for what they are. And there’s certainly no kind of like overtone or pretext that we’re trying to show,” he says.

– “Merlin is completely focused on his destiny. He will do whatever it takes. He has to put a lot of his emotions aside. He has to not think about himself, not think in a way about his personal consequences and think about the consequences of what it will do for Arthur and for the kingdom and for the future of magic,” Colin says of his character’s pending responsibility.