The Creators of MGM+'s 'Robin Hood' Talk Re-Imagining the Legend for A Modern Era - INTERVIEW

It's difficult to think of a cultural figure more ubiquitous than Robin Hood. A legend that has been around so long that its true origins have been forgotten, the famous green archer has been depicted in books, movies, and now TV, with MGM+'s "Robin Hood," created by John Glenn and Jonathan English.

Glenn and English sat down with The Latin Times to talk about their new interpretation of the people's hero and how their experience working on other projects brought them to the project. Looking at both of their filmographies, their previous work could not be more different from each other.

John Glenn is an American screenwriter, director, and producer who has worked on films like the action thriller "Eagle Eye," the horror film "The Lazarus Project," and the military drama series "SEAL Team." All of these are very much set in the present day and in the United States. Jonathan English, however, is a British writer and director whose work has almost exclusively been medieval fantasy, with the "Ironclad" films.

When speaking about the differences between their projects and backgrounds, Glenn said, "Jonathan has a wealth of knowledge that I don't possess about that time period, about Robin Hood in general. So I had to do a fair amount of catch-up... for me, it's like, I think bringing sort of a, you know, a classic storytelling structure into a lot of these sort of great, fantastic ideas that are hinged in older history, you know, and, uh, but I love Robin Hood, too, you know, it's just my sort of, you know, impression or education of it is... mostly from the past hundred years or so. But there exists, you know, previous to that, a wealth of information and stories on Robin Hood that are very, very, you know, it's a little. It's just different. It's more human, more personal."

English added that, "I would say that John also brought with his experience and his skill as a as a screenwriter and as a as a exec producer of numerous shows. He also, I think, brought, you know... modern storytelling and made sure that it wasn't a, you know, an old fashioned narrative... And I think that's very much from John's skill and talent as a writer.

"Robin Hood" follows Robert "Rob" Locksley (played by Australian actor Jack Patten) as he becomes the leader of a band of outlaws who fight royal corruption after the Norman Conquest of England in the Middle Ages. Along with classic characters from folklore like Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, and Little John, Locksley takes on the identity of "Robin Hood" to fight for justice and freedom while being hunted by Robin Hood's iconic nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham (played by fantasy veteran Sean Bean).

English added that "We've both always been fans of Robin Hood... And, you know, growing up... we were always watching... all the Robin Hood movies... I've always been very passionate and, and a fan of the Middle Ages and the medieval period... And when you go back, obviously we all know about the 20th century versions of Robin Hood, and a lot was written about him in the 20th century, in the 19th century. But as you go much further back to an earlier period as as early as... the 13th century, a lot was written about him then as well.

And in those early writings, he's a much more he's kind of a much more grounded figure, much more believable figure. Um, all the characters, Friar Tuck, Little John, they're all there, the Sheriff of Nottingham. But but they're somehow a little bit more relatable, a little bit more grounded and more connected to the period as well. Um, so I think that was our entry point."

You can watch the first 7 episodes of "Robin Hood" on MGM+ now, with new episodes every Sunday at 9/8c.