The Musketeers (2014–2016)
Explicitly compared by its own creators and by critics to the BBC's earlier hit adaptations of Robin Hood and Merlin, this series takes a deliberately open approach to its source material, using Dumas's characters and Paris setting as a launching pad for original, episodic adventures rather than attempting a direct, chapter-by-chapter adaptation of the novel's actual plot.
An Anthology Structure, Not a Single Continuous Plot
With thirty episodes across three series, the show functions much closer to an ongoing episodic drama than a single adapted narrative. Each episode typically features its own self-contained case or crisis, layered with longer-running arcs involving Milady, Rochefort, and various political threats to the crown. This structure is fundamentally different from how the novel itself works, which follows one continuous plot (the diamond studs affair, then Milady's downfall) across its full length rather than a "case of the week" format.
Peter Capaldi's Richelieu, Genuinely Well-Regarded
Widely considered the show's strongest element during its first series, Capaldi's Richelieu received consistent praise for bringing real gravitas and complexity to the role, closer in spirit to the novel's actually formidable political operator than the cartoonish villain some earlier screen adaptations settled for, a point this site's own piece on the real Richelieu discusses at length. Capaldi's departure after series one, when he was cast as the title character in Doctor Who, is frequently cited by fans and critics as a true loss to the show's ongoing quality.
New Characters Invented for the Series
Characters like Constance's expanded storyline, Lucien Grimaud, Captain Marcheaux, and the Marquis de Feron are original creations or substantially reworked from minor novel figures, invented to sustain thirty episodes' worth of plot across three years of production, a similar approach to how "next generation" spinoffs like Revenge of the Musketeers, covered elsewhere on this site, invent new characters while retaining the core cast's names and basic relationships.
A Louder, More Contemporary Tone
Contemporary reviews describe the show as offering "a contemporary take on the classic story," with faster pacing, more overt romantic subplots, and dialogue that reads as more modern than period-authentic, a deliberate choice for contemporary television drama rather than an attempt at replicating the novel's own nineteenth-century voice. This places the show closer in spirit to loose modernizing adaptations like 2001's The Musketeer, discussed elsewhere on this site, than to more textually faithful versions like the 1973 Lester films or the 2023 French production.
What Survives From Dumas Across Three Series
Despite its episodic freedom, the show retains real continuity with the novel's core relationships and eventually incorporates material connected to later parts of the d'Artagnan saga as the series progresses: the fundamental "all for one" loyalty between the four friends, Milady's dangerous unpredictability, and the ongoing tension between personal loyalty and service to the crown all carry through, even as the specific plots diverge substantially from anything Dumas actually wrote.
Read the source material at The Three Musketeers, or see the more textually faithful 2023 French production.