Episode 5x08 Press Release 

Ep 8/13
Saturday 24 November
8.00-8.45pm
BBC ONE

When Merlin agrees to help a young Druid boy, he has no choice but to leave Camelot on a dangerous mission.

And with the citadel distracted by the visit of the fearsome Sarrum of Amata, it seems that no one will notice his absence.

But as the sky darkens, so do Merlin's suspicions - is there more to Daegal than meets the eye? And can a man as ruthless as the Sarrum ever really be trusted? Too late, the young warlock realises he's made a terrible mistake.

Colin Morgan is Merlin, Bradley James is Arthur, Angel Coulby is Gwen, Katie McGrath is Morgana, Richard Wilson is Gaius and John Hurt is the voice of the Great Dragon. Tom Hopper, Rupert Young, Eoin Macken and Adetomiwa Edun return as The Knights of the Round Table. Special guest stars include John Shrapnel as Sarrum, Matthew Clancy as Albin and Mitch Benn as Gerrin.

I bet this is the one with all those guys in the Middle Eastern-looking garb.

And is Gwen still in Morgana's thrall in this one? She doesn't get a mention; I wonder if it is "forgotten" for an episode...

Usually Gwen is missing for one episode, but I see her in the listing. Unless the cast listing is erroneous. Morgana hasn't been in two already. I think her spell isn't discovered until episode 9. I've been so sporadic I may have my facts mixed up.

It isn't until episode 9 that they de-enchant her. That's the episode that Alator is going to be in. I'm not sure if we're even going to see her in this episode because it seems like it's going to be following Merlin who's going to be outside of Camelot for most of the episode.

Oh, HQ, don't pay too much attention to the cast list from this site. They don't really change it (even with the episodes where Morgana wasn't in it, they still included Katie in the list) except to add the guest list.

Excited for episode 9. We get Alator, who is just awesome, and if we are all guessing correctly, we get to see Arthur carrying her out of that lake/pool thing.

I wonder what happens to enchanted Gwen then, as they seem to skip an episode between her trying to kill Arthur ( and Merlin becoming suspicious) and her getting de - enchanted? Surely it would be a huge plothole if they didn't include some reference to where she is and what has happened with her situation during 5x08.

That would just suck, a big time.. And I wouldn't be surprised if they did that!