Finally, a network with a sense of humor about itself! ABC’s Galavant, which is meant to fill-in for Once Upon A Time while on break, is unlike anything you’ve seen on television in a long time, if ever. Think Once Upon A Time meets and an adult version of Glee, but in a good way because the songs are all sarcastic in tone and poke fun at the fairy tale premise of the show. Sounds clever, right? If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a sneak peek of what the show is all about!
The Thespians
One of the more well known names on Galavant is American actor Timothy Omundson, who plays King Richard. You may remember Omundson from a little known 8 season long television project called Psych on USA Network where he played a small role, Detective Carlton Lassiter. Another recognizable face on the show is British actor Vinnie Jones, who plays the character Gareth—King Richard’s protector and most trusted confidante. You may remember Jones from Guy Richie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Cain Marko/Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand.
The lead character, Galavant, is played by a relative newcomer to American television, Joshua Sasse. Prior to landing the leading role in Galavant, the British actor starred in several plays as well as the second season of the television show Rogue. The remaining main cast members include: Mallory Jansen (ABC Family’s Baby Daddy) as Queen Madalena, Karen David (The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior) as Princess Isabella Maria Lucia Elizabetta of Valencia and Luke Youngblood (Magnitude from NBC’s Community) as Sid, Galavant’s squire.
The Tale
The unlikely fairy tale goes a little something like this: Beloved hero Galavant, meets and falls in love with a young woman of the same station named Madalena. One day while out in the village together, King Richard abducts Madalena and takes her back to his castle where he marries her and makes her his Queen. Despite her initial objection to being married to the King, Madalena soon takes to the role of Queen, having grown up poor like her former lover Galavant.
Not long after, Madalena’s inner gold-digger surfaces and she then makes it her mission to acquire a precious jewel held by the King and Queen of Valencia. When King Richard acquires the jewel for his Queen, he then works out a deal with their daughter Princess Isabella Maria Lucia Elizabetta of Valencia (or Princess Isabella for short) for her to use the jewel to lure Galavant to the castle for King Richard to kill him; forever ridding himself of the threat Galavant poses in acquiring his Queen’s affection.
Meanwhile, a heartbroken Galavant makes a gallant trip—filled with land bound pirates and drunken duals—with his squire Sid and Princess Isabella, to rescue his lady love. Unfortunately, when Galavant finally arrives at the castle to save Madalena from her life of riches, servants and a loveless marriage, she had different plans in mind. More of the villainess I’m going to take the kingdom from my King variety; a plan which apparently involves her bringing back the rightful heir to the throne and King Richard’s older brother, the aptly named Kingsley.
Devastated and confused after learning of Madalena’s intentions to remain in the castle and take him in as a boy toy, Galavant finally realizes that he has developed romantic feelings for his travel companion Princess Isabella; although, there was that little thing about her betraying him to get him to go to the castle in the first place. Keep in mind while all of this is transpiring, each of the characters occasionally breaks out into a satirical song, both progressing the storyline and providing comedic relief. Take a look.
The End
As well all know, all good things must come to an end, and this Sunday so too will the tale of Galavant as it was only meant to last for 8 episodes; unless, of course, we learn of a different fate in the future. Should Galavant get picked up for a full season, fans of the show can only hope the network won’t destroy everything unique about the show that made them want to watch in the first place.
The final episodes of Galavant air this Sunday night, January 25, 2015 on ABC at 8pm EST.