"Pretty much, in all honesty. What we decided to do was to tell the legend how it was in many ways. And I suppose we’re both very sad that Arthur had to die, and that is a massive part of the legend. We tried to sort of soften it and give it a sense of hope that he would one day rise again, and that Merlin even to the present day was waiting for that to happen."

—

Julian Murphy when asked if he had planned Arthur’s death in the finale all along

(via merthuriscanon)