Merlin/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
Merlin is a fictional experimental tender locomotive created by Ian McCue and Andrew Brenner.

In 2017, Merlin made his debut in the movie, "Journey Beyond Sodor".

Merlin is voiced by Hugh Bonneville (UK/US) in the CGI version of the series on both sides of the Atlantic, respectively.

Merlin is based on the LSWR N15 Class, referred to as the "King Arthur" class by the Southern Railway, specifically No. 783 Sir Gillemere. In 1940, Sir Gillemere was fitted with three stovepipe chimneys by Oliver Bulleid as a wartime experiment.

CGI Model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. In 2016, Merlin was created from scratch in CGI by Arc Productions for the 2017 movie, Journey Beyond Sodor. The model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Voice Actors

 * Hugh Bonneville
 * Nigel Pilkington
 * Kenta Miyake
 * Grzegorz Pawlak
 * Miguel Ángel Ghigliazza
 * Martin Lohmann
 * Kertész Péter
 * Raine Heiskanen
 * Wilken Mazzei
 * Daniil Eldarov
 * Heo Seong-jae