King Arthur’s legend, on celluloid, is usually a parade of over-acting wizards, prancing knights and puny teenagers pretending they can’t get a plastic sword out of a polystyrene rock. Now Guy Ritchie has got his gangster-loving mitts on it and looks set to make King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword into an all-action swords’n’sorcery action spectacular. Full of wisecracking knights, gangster flick camerawork and legions of battling medieval hordes, it looks very much like Lock, Stock And Two Warring Hobbits, but here’s everything we know about it so far.

What’s Legend Of The Sword’s release date?

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword premieres in the US on May 12 and on May 19 in the UK. Count yourselves lucky – the Spanish don’t get it until August.

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword – the plot explained 

Originally titled Knights Of The Roundtable: King Arthur, Legend Of The Sword is the first of – count ‘em – six films planned by Ritchie to tell the whole story of the King Arthur legend, acting as Arthur’s origin story. As a small child, Arthur’s father is murdered and his wicked uncle Vortigern seizes the crown, casting the child out to grow up a ruffian running the mean streets of Londinium (we’re guessing the east end), but there’s this little matter of a rock-based prophesy. He who can draw the sword Excalibur from the stone is the one true king, someone with a lengthy beard usually announces, and when our Art manages to tug one out he’s forced to face up to his true birthright. Cue some serious cinematic soul-searching of the kind we all have to face when we realize we’re actually a mythical magic king, before Arthur throws his weight behind the massing resistance army to help overthrow his usurping uncle. Don’t expect much of a showing for any ladies in lakes at this early stage. 

Legend Of The Sword: cast of characters 

With Idris Elba sadly not secured to play Arthur’s magical mentor — and who wouldn’t want to see such a badass Merlin? — Ritchie’s second choice for that part Charlie Hunnam eventually ended up in the title role. Jude Law gets his baddie on as uncle Vortigern and Eric Bana puts those swoon-inducing eyes to good use as Arthur’s dad Uther Pendragon. French-Spanish actor and model Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey takes on the enigmatic young Guinevere and Game Of Thrones’ Aiden Gillen plays someone called Goosefat Bill Wilson, who we’re pretty sure is a kid we went to school with. Oh, and keep a keen eye out for David Beckham, making his cinematic debut as a wannabe called Trigger who fails to pull the sword from the stone. Trigger from Only Fools And Horses was presumably unavailable.

Has Ritchie geezered-up King Arthur?

Well, he managed to ramp up the octane rating of Sherlock Holmes over a clutch of movies without getting Robert Downey Jr to utter the immortal phrase, “it’s elementary, you muppet” and Ritchie, intending to make “a more classic, straightforward and somewhat somber” movie than usual, appears to have settled into the fantasy genre with a similar sort of excitable respect. The trailers are dotted with gigantic elephants, vast mythical vistas, roaring armies of thousands besieging castle ramparts and half-naked tree ladies, but Arthur himself is rooted in the classic Ritchie gangster tradition. “A wide-boy scoundrel with a heart of gold who shows a healthy disdain for the ruling class as he rises to the top,” says the Daily Mail. Oi oi, Lancelot!

Are there trailers for King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword?

The first King Arthur trailer emerged during Comic-Con 2016, and two more trailers have featured clips of a childhood Arthur, growing up in a brothel, stealing and street-fighting his way to manhood. 

Will there be a second King Arthur film soon?

It may be a few years, as Ritchie has started work on a live-action version of Aladdin, due out in 2019. So best get your fix of hot Galahad action while you can.

If you enjoyed King Arthur, check out the new series of Peaky Blinders