Ben Shapiro is betting $20 million that conservative audiences are starving for epic fantasy entertainment untainted by Hollywood’s woke agenda, launching The Daily Wire’s most ambitious original series to compete directly with mainstream streaming giants.
Conservative Media’s Hollywood Gambit
The Daily Wire launched “The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin” in late September 2025, marking Ben Shapiro’s boldest move yet to disrupt entertainment dominated by leftist gatekeepers. The Arthurian legend adaptation represents a $20 million investment into prestige television, directly competing with the fantasy epics that HBO and Amazon pour hundreds of millions into. Shapiro’s willingness to personally oversee production signals his conviction that conservatives deserve storytelling free from the diversity quotas, gender ideology, and anti-American messaging plaguing mainstream fantasy series. This gamble tests whether audiences exhausted by Hollywood’s propaganda will pay for alternatives that respect traditional narratives.
Building the Alternative Entertainment Ecosystem
Since co-founding The Daily Wire in 2015, Shapiro transformed what started as a conservative news outlet into a multimedia empire spanning podcasts, children’s content through Bentkey, and now high-budget original series. Previous investments included over $10 million in animated projects and the 2023 comedy “Lady Ballers,” which mocked woke sports culture but faced distribution challenges typical of conservative content. The Pendragon series represents the culmination of this expansion strategy, directly targeting the post-Game of Thrones fantasy market that Amazon and Warner Bros. currently monopolize. This infrastructure build reflects conservative frustration with being locked out of cultural storytelling, forcing content creators to finance parallel systems rather than compete within existing Hollywood frameworks.
Strategic Stakes for Conservative Content
Daily Wire+ currently maintains approximately 500,000 subscribers, a customer base Shapiro must retain and grow to justify premium production spending that rivals mainstream studios per-viewer. The short-term goal focuses on subscription growth through novelty appeal, offering fantasy fans an option unburdened by the identity politics inserted into Amazon’s “Rings of Power” or Netflix adaptations. Long-term viability depends on whether $20 million investments can generate sufficient revenue through subscriptions, merchandise, and cross-promotion via Daily Wire’s podcast network including Morning Wire. Success would validate the business model for conservative entertainment independence, potentially inspiring additional productions that challenge streaming monopolies. Failure would expose the financial risks of competing against established studios with deeper pockets and broader marketing reach.
Market Position Against Hollywood Giants
Shapiro positions Pendragon as counter-programming to Hollywood’s ideological uniformity, capitalizing on audience segments alienated by forced diversity casting and revisionist storytelling that deconstructs Western mythology rather than celebrating it. The Arthurian legend provides fertile ground for traditional heroic narratives emphasizing honor, sacrifice, and moral clarity—themes Hollywood increasingly dismisses as outdated or problematic. By focusing on Merlin’s rise, the series targets fantasy enthusiasts seeking epic scope without contemporary political messaging shoehorned into medieval settings. This positioning acknowledges conservatives represent an underserved niche willing to pay for values-aligned content, though questions remain whether niche appeal can sustain HBO-level budgets without broader mainstream crossover that risks diluting the conservative brand differentiation.