Merlin to return to Syfy in January

Syfy has revealed the start date for the fourth season of British fantasy drama Merlin starring Colin Morgan and Bradley James.

Syfy acquired the rights to air the fourth season of Merlin in America after the successful broadcast of the third earlier this year. The first season of Merlin aired on NBC in America before switching to Syfy for its second season onwards where it has performed well for the broadcaster drawing in good ratings.

The fourth season of Merlin will launch on Syfy on Friday 6th January – the series will open with a two-part story; The Darkest Hour – set a year after the events of the season three finale, The Coming of Arthur. In the two-part special Morgana (Katie McGrath) and Morgause (Emilia Fox) have been in hiding from Prince Arthur’s (Bradley James) forces who are searching for them but the two witches have a new plan to bring down Camelot. Meanwhile Arthur is ruling the Kingdom in place of his father, Uther (Anthony Head), who has been left broken by Morgana’s betrayal. Confirmed guest-stars for the fourth series include Gemma Jones, Phil Davis, Lindsay Duncan and Battlestar Galactica’s James Callis.

The fourth season of Merlin is currently airing in the UK on BBC One on Saturday evenings where it has once again drawn strong ratings. Final figures for its first episode place gave the fantasy drama a strong 6.4 million viewers which is good considering it aired opposite ratings titan The X Factor on ITV1. A fifth season of the drama has already been ordered by the BBC and will start filming early next year – it’s rumoured it could be the last series but a movie is reportedly in development.

You can watch a UK trailer for the fourth season of Merlin here >>