Alexandre Astier Claims Kaamelott’s Dialogue Isn’t Anachronistic!

Characters telling their mates to scram, lounging around, or threatening to hit someone “in the face”: since its inception, Kaamelott has employed deliberately casual language. This style is sometimes seen as anachronistic since the tales of King Arthur are set in the Middle Ages.

Yet, according to Alexandre Astier, this critique stems from a skewed view of reality. Speaking on the show En Aparté on Canal+ in 2022, the creator of the series defended his choice with his usual candor.

Recreating Everyday Speech is Impossible

Astier believes that historical works often attribute to past characters a form of expression that is artificially solemn. This cinematic convention might not necessarily be more true to life than the very contemporary dialogues of Kaamelott.

“What wouldn’t be anachronistic? Those famous films where they tell you: ‘Priest, cease your prayers, your God does not dwell here.’ That’s something I think is from Kingdom of Heaven. But do you really think people took the time to talk like that? They had real problems, real issues!”

Alexandre Astier believes that people of that era also had their everyday vocabulary, expressions, and spontaneous ways of communicating. A vernacular that is now impossible to transcribe perfectly.

“They had sore feet, they didn’t want to go, they didn’t understand the mission… What did they have? They had an everyday language. THEIR everyday language, the one that can’t be transcribed today. So how do you transcribe a real everyday language? Well, you use your own everyday language. You’re not going to tell me these guys spoke like a book?”

Unusual Doesn’t Mean Anachronistic

Rather than artificially re-creating an ancient language or adopting very literary dialogues, the author chose to translate this spoken word into a register that is immediately understandable. In his view, having Arthur, Perceval, or Léodagan speak “like us” more accurately conveys the lively and everyday nature of their exchanges.

“It’s not anachronistic. It’s the others who are anachronistic to think that these people were literary in their speech while they were at war, in monstrous fratricides, and in world conquests. No, that’s not true, I’m right. They are the ones who are mistaken. It’s not anachronistic, it’s unusual, which is different.”

This approach largely explains the distinctive personality of the dialogues in Kaamelott. To shape this colorful vocabulary, Alexandre Astier drew inspiration from the slang and memorable lines of French dialogue writer Michel Audiard.

The director has since reunited with almost his entire cast – with one notable absence – in Kaamelott – Second Installment, Part 1, released in French theaters on October 22, 2025. The continuation will follow on November 11th in Part 2.

The entire Kaamelott series is available for free on M6+, while Kaamelott – First Installment is available for rent or purchase on various VOD services, and Kaamelott – Second Installment [Part 1] can be seen on Ciné+ OCS.

To stay immersed in the series’ universe, also find Alexandre Astier decoding the vocabulary of “Kaamelott”:

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