How to watch The Winter King: stream the King Arthur show online

Ken Nwosu as Sagramor, Iain De Caestecker as Arthur and Matt Mella as Lanval on horseback in The Winter King.
(Image credit: ITV)

The latest King Arthur TV show is here in the form of The Winter King, which came out in the US already but is landing in the UK on Thursday, December 21. We'll help you figure out how to watch it.

Quick links

US: MGM Plus
UK:
ITVX (free)
AU: Stan
VPN: 
ExpressVPN

This Arthurian adaptation strips the magic and fantasy from the classic King Arthur stories, with The Winter King instead giving them a historical grounding set in medieval Britain. It sees Arthur as a warlord in ancient Dumnonia who needs to protect his kingdom from Saxons, despite being exiled from the land.

The show is based on The Warlord Chronicles, books by Bernard Cornwell, who also wrote the novels that were adapted into The Last Kingdom. So expect lots of battles, drama and murder. 

So if you're interested, here's how to watch The Winter King from wherever you live.

How to watch The Winter King in the UK

In the UK, The Winter King will be available to watch from Thursday, December 21. That's when the first five episodes will be available to watch online, with the subsequent five being uploaded one week later on Thursday, December 28.

All of the episodes will be available to watch on ITV streaming service ITVX, which is free to anyone who pays a license fee (as long as you can put up with all the adverts!). The show won't be playing on ITV channels in December, though nothing's stopping ITV from airing it later on.

How to watch The Winter King in the US

To watch The Winter King in the US, you'll need to use the streaming service MGM Plus. This service costs $5.99 per month, or $49.99 for an annual subscription, and you can pick up a 7-day free trial for the service too.

Many subscribers opt to sign up for the MGM Plus Prime Video channel instead of the standalone service, as it lets you see all the MGM Plus videos alongside your standard Prime Video library.

After it debuted on Sunday, August 20, all of The Winter King is now available to watch on MGM Plus, so you can binge it in one block if you'd like. 

How to watch The Winter King in Australia

You'll be able to watch The Winter King on Stan in Australia, and each episode will land on the streamer the day after it airs in the US. You'll be able to see the full release schedule below.

Each month Stan costs $10 for its Basic tier, but if you pay $16 for Standard you get more simultaneous streams and HD streaming, and the $21 Premium tier gets you 4K streaming and even more screens to watch on at the same time. There's also a 30-day free trial available.

The Winter King started airing from August in Australia, and so the entire run is now available on Stan.

Find a link to Stan here.

How to watch The Winter King everywhere else

If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch The Winter King, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). 

A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite shows like The Winter King or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is ExpressVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is one of the simplest and most affordable ways to watch what you want from anywhere you want to watch it. 

It's straightforward and easy to use, has great security, is available on loads of streaming devices and, best of all, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out 100% risk-free.

How to read The Warlord Chronicles books in order

The Winter King is based on a trilogy of books by Bernard Cornwell, with the TV show named after the first novel. They're a retelling of the Arthur legends but combined with historical fiction, which Cornwell is known for, and the author has admitted that they're the favorites that he's written. Here are the three books:

The books follow a chronological story order so we'd recommend you read them in the above order.

Tom Bedford
Streaming and Ecommerce Writer

Tom is the streaming and ecommerce writer at What to Watch, covering streaming services in the US and UK. His goal is to help you navigate the busy and confusing online video market, to help you find the TV, movies and sports that you're looking for without having to spend too much money.