The Best Actors Who Have Played King Arthur, Ranked

King Arthur shows up in just about every corner of screen storytelling, from sweeping epics and musicals to sharp modern rethinks and cheeky comedies. Each production picks a different moment in the legend to spotlight, whether it is the sword in the stone, the building of Camelot, or the final ride to Camlann, and that choice shapes how Arthur is written and played.

This roundup looks across movies and television to highlight performers who stepped into the crown and made the character work within very different creative goals. You will find classical knights in shining armor, gritty war leaders, and rulers facing the end of an age. Along the way are key details on where to watch them, the creative teams behind them, and what each take emphasizes in the legend.

10. Mel Ferrer

Mel Ferrer plays Arthur in the MGM adventure ‘Knights of the Round Table’, a studio epic built around court spectacle, jousts, and the triangle of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. The movie follows core episodes from Malory with Modred as the chief internal threat to Camelot and uses large sets and location photography to stage battles and pageantry.

Ferrer anchors scenes with Robert Taylor as Lancelot and Ava Gardner as Guinevere as the story moves from the sword in the stone to the collapse of the court. Richard Thorpe directs a cast of familiar British and American players and the production leans on colorful costumes and full orchestral scoring to sell a grand retelling for a wide audience.

9. Jamie Campbell Bower

Jamie Campbell Bower leads the Starz series ‘Camelot’ as a young Arthur who is newly crowned and still learning how to hold power. The show frames his rise through political maneuvering, with Joseph Fiennes as Merlin and Eva Green as Morgan shaping his choices from opposite sides of the struggle.

Across the season the storyline tracks the building of alliances, the strain of the crown on personal relationships, and the early foundations of Camelot. The production puts much of its energy into court intrigue and regional conflict and uses Irish locations to give the series a grounded look at the myth.

8. Sean Harris

Sean Harris portrays Arthur in ‘The Green Knight’ as a frail yet commanding ruler who presides over a court facing its twilight. He sets the tone for the Christmas gathering where the Green Knight issues his challenge and his presence turns the test taken by Gawain into a matter of legacy and memory.

Scenes with Kate Dickie as the queen and Dev Patel as Gawain sketch a court steeped in ritual and story. Director David Lowery’s production design and soundscape present Arthur as a figure tied to an older world and Harris plays him at a point where legend and mortality meet.

7. Bradley James

Bradley James charts Arthur’s journey from prince to king in the BBC series ‘Merlin’. The show begins with a brash heir learning humility through trials and camaraderie and progresses to a ruler who must choose between duty to the realm and loyalty to those closest to him.

The ensemble with Colin Morgan as Merlin, Angel Coulby as Guinevere, and Anthony Head as Uther gives the character a full court to play against. The series blends monster hunts and court plots and uses long form storytelling to track Arthur’s growth across quests, betrayals, and the eventual making of the Round Table.

6. Clive Owen

Clive Owen headlines ‘King Arthur’ for director Antoine Fuqua, a take that leans into a late Roman Britain setting and the idea of Arthur as Artorius, a cavalry officer leading Sarmatian knights. The script places him between retreating empire and encroaching tribes and uses that tension to frame the defense of a frontier community.

The film features Keira Knightley as Guinevere and Ioan Gruffudd as Lancelot and sets Stellan Skarsgård’s Saxon warlord as the external threat. Action sequences emphasize shield walls, cavalry charges, and winter ambushes and the score and production design support a grittier battlefield version of the myth.

5. Charlie Hunnam

Charlie Hunnam plays Arthur in ‘King Arthur Legend of the Sword’ as a street survivor raised far from the court who discovers the power of Excalibur. The plot sends him from the back alleys of Londinium to open revolt against the tyrant Vortigern and uses fast cutting and kinetic set pieces to track his rise.

The cast includes Jude Law as Vortigern and Astrid Bergès Frisbey as a mage who guides Arthur through visions and training. The movie builds a new origin for the king around found family, underworld allies, and a blade that turns the tide in close quarters fights.

4. Graham Chapman

Graham Chapman is King Arthur in ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’, a comedy that follows a quest structure while gleefully undercutting it at every turn. The movie’s sketches string together encounters with hostile castle guards, an argumentative historian, and a forest cult known for very specific vocabulary.

Production details add to the fun with coconut shells standing in for horse hooves and directors Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones staging medieval absurdity on Scottish locations. Rock bands helped finance the project and the film remains a reference point for comic takes on Arthurian material, complete with a police intervention that stops the quest in its tracks.

3. Richard Harris

Richard Harris brings Arthur to the screen in the film version of the musical ‘Camelot’, built from the Lerner and Loewe stage hit. The story explores the founding ideals of the court, the warmth of the royal marriage, and the pressure placed on both when Lancelot enters the picture.

Joshua Logan directs a lavish production with Vanessa Redgrave as Guenevere and Franco Nero as Lancelot and extensive use of sets and costumes to create an idealized court. Harris performs signature numbers and delivers the reflective monologues that define Arthur’s philosophy of governance and mercy.

2. Sean Connery

Sean Connery plays Arthur in ‘First Knight’, a romantic adventure that centers on the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere and the threat posed by the rebel knight Malagant. The movie treats Arthur as a seasoned monarch whose leadership is tested by both political upheaval and personal loyalty.

Jerry Zucker directs a cast that includes Richard Gere and Julia Ormond and stages large scale battles and ceremonial scenes to show the life of the court. Filming used British locations and constructed sets to present a polished Camelot and the plot builds to a defense of the realm that underscores the ideals Arthur champions.

1. Nigel Terry

Nigel Terry’s Arthur in ‘Excalibur’ spans the full arc from uncertain squire to the wounded king who sails to Avalon. The film adapts major pieces of the legend including the sword in the stone, the forging of the Round Table, the betrayal that breaks the court, and the final ride with Bedivere.

John Boorman directs with Nicol Williamson as Merlin and Helen Mirren as Morgana and shoots on Irish locations that give the saga a misty, enchanted feel. Early roles for Patrick Stewart and Liam Neeson appear among the knights and the production’s armor, lighting, and choral scoring combine to make a comprehensive screen chronicle of the Once and Future King.

Share your own favorite screen portrayals of Arthur in the comments and tell us who you would add to the list.