Robin Hood Series On MGM+ Inaccurately Portrays Christianity

"A pox on the phony king of England!", so go the words to one of the songs in the Walt Disney animated adaptation of "Robin Hood". Yet, some people are claiming that even though the 1973 Walt Disney cartoon features a red fox as the legendary noble outlaw, it is less far-fetched than the latest MGM+ Robin Hood adaptation featuring Sean Bean as the Sheriff of Nottingham. An adaptation which is number one on streaming in The United States and first overall on MGM+ in The USA and the United Kingdom, as well.

The reason people are claiming the latest Robin Hood television series on MGM+ is so outlandishly far-fetched is due to its inaccurate portrayal of Christianity. For the series has the Australian actor, Jack Patten, portraying Robin Hood and his band of merry men as pagan Saxons who both resent and resist Christianity being imposed onto them by the Normans. When the truth is that oral tradition and early ballads emphasize Robin Hood as in fact being a Christian. With Robin Hood even holding women in high esteem out of his devotion to "Our Lady", the Virgin Mary.

Historians place the story of Robin Hood in the late 12th to early 13th centuries during the times of King Richard the Lionheart, who reigned from 1189 to 1199. Which means that Christianity had already been present in England for several centuries by the times of the legendary noble outlaw. In fact, the first wave of Christianity in England arrived during the 2nd and 4th centuries. With some legends even stating that Joseph of Arimathea introduced Christianity to England during the second century. Whether or not the Joseph of Arimathea aspect falls merely in the realm of legend, there is evidence of Christian believers in Britain during that time. With the major Anglo-Saxon conversion to Christianity often defined as beginning when Pope Gregory I sent Saint Augustine to Kent in 597 AD to convert them. Astute mathematicians will note that 597 AD is at least six hundred years prior to when historians place the existence of Robin Hood.

Curiously enough, not only was Christianity already firmly in place during the times of Robin Hood and his Sherwood Forest legends, the Anglo-Saxons were indeed Christianized centuries before the Normans were. As the Normans didn't turn to Christianity until at least four-hundred years after the Anglo-Saxons. With the Viking leader, Rollo, agreeing to be baptized into the Christian faith in 911 AD in exchange for land in France.

So not only is the Robin Hood series on MGM+ inaccurate in its portrayal of Christianity, it has the role of Christianity in the Anglo-Saxon and Norman tribes completely reversed from the historical record. Something that the writers of the show, John Glenn and Jonathan English, could easily have discovered while conducting basic minimal research. Which begs the question, why have they taken such an atrocious liberty with the history of a classic legend?

It is a question only they can answer. However, many observers see it as yet another sign of the declining influence of Christianity in England and Western culture. For while the writers of the new MGM+ Robin Hood series have Robin Hood stating, "Let us be thieves with a purpose." They have taken away his purpose, by taking away his faith. Since as the British Member of Parliament Danny Kruger stated on July 17th, 2025, "to repudiate Christianity is not only to sever ourselves from our past, but to cut off the source of all the things we value now and that we need in the future, such as freedom, tolerance, individual dignity and human rights."

Luisa Reyes is a Tuscaloosa attorney, piano instructor, and vocalist.