Do You Remember: Kings

Back in March of 2009, NBC set about to debut Kings, a critically acclaimed – albeit short-lived – drama loosely based on the biblical story of King David. The series was set in the Kingdom of Gilboa, a modern absolute monarchy, which resembled present-day United States, ruled by King Silas Benjamin (Ian McShane from American Gods). He formed that Kingdom two decades earlier from the three warring countries of Gilboa, Carmel and Selah. Silas believed he was divinely anointed as King, but his policies and actions were being manipulated by his brother-in-law William Cross (Dylan Baker from The Americans and Blindspot), who held substantial control over the royal treasury.

King Silas’s Queen, Rose Cross Benjamin (Susanna Thompson from Arrow), ruled the royal household with an iron fist and, in many ways, ruled the Kingdom from behind the scenes. Their son Prince Jack (Sebastian Stan of Captain America fame) was not only ambitious but also frustrated, as he was seen as a womanizing rake in the press but was secretly gay.

When young Gilboan soldier David Shepherd (Christopher Egan from Dominion and the box office movie Letters to Juliet) single-handedly rescued a captive soldier (who turned out to be Prince Jack) from behind enemy lines and destroyed a Goliath-class tank, he became an instant star and earned the gratitude of King Silas, who brought David to the capital city, promoted him to Captain and then into the position of military liaison to the media. David soon became embroiled in royal court politics with little to no experience as well as developing feelings for Princess Michelle (Allison Miller from A Million Little Things).

The main cast also included Eamonn Walker (Chicago Fire) as Reverend Ephram Samuels, who was instrumental in Silas’s rise to power and Wes Studi (The Last of the Mohicans) as General Linus Abner, the head of Gilboa’s military.

The recurring cast included Sarita Choudhury (Jessica Jones) as Helen Pardis, King Silas’s mistress and mother of his illegitimate son, Andrew (Macaulay Culkin, Home Alone’s Kevin) as well as Brian Cox (Succession) as Vesper Abaddon, the former King of Carmel and Leslie Bibb (Popular and American Housewife) as Katrina Ghent, a socialite and new Minister of Information.

Some of the guest stars included:

Hisham Tawfiq, who now plays Dembe in The Blacklist;
Michael Mosley, who has appeared in Castle, Sirens and Ozark;
Saffron Burrows, who has appeared in Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Mozart in the Jungle;
Titus Welliver, who now stars in Bosch; and
Terry Serpico, who has appeared in Army Wives, The Inspectors and Yellowstone.

The show garnered over 6 million viewers for its pilot and near 6 million viewers for it second episode, but ratings shifted enough that after only four episodes, NBC pulled the show from its Sunday night timeslot, moving the remaining episodes to Saturday nights, where it averaged less than 2 million viewers each week.

Here is the trailer for Kings:

You can also watch Kings on NBC.

Do you remember Kings?