Prime Video Wins the Battle for Historical Epic 'King & Conqueror'

As Anglophiles, we all know the indescribable feeling of a highly anticipated British series finally (finally!) landing a deal to make its way across the pond. To be fair, historical epic King & Conqueror technically hasn't even aired in the U.K. yet (it's set to premiere on BBC One at the end of the month), but this show has been on the radar of history buffs and all-around James Norton (Grantchester) enthusiasts alike since late lst year, so the news that it's landed a U.S. distribution deal at Prime Video comes as a incredibly welcome relief. 

The lavish eight-part series aims to depict the story of the men behind one of the great turning points in English history: The Battle of Hastings. The 1066 face-off between Harold Godwinson, the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and Normandy's William the Conqueror, reshaped England in its wake, from its laws to its language. But the lead-up to this event features everything from a complicated succession crisis surrounding Edward the Confessor's throne, an interconnected family dynasty at war with itself, a shipwreck, a Viking invasion, and more. In short, it has all the ingredients for an epic television series. 

Norton plays King Harold II alongside Game of Thrones alum Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as William of Normandy, and if the early footage is anything to go by, it appears that the show is as interested in the family history and preexisting relationship between the two men as it is their inexorable march to face one another on opposite sites of a battlefield. 

Here's the series synopsis.

King & Conqueror is the story of a clash that defined the future of a country – and a continent – for a thousand years, the roots of which stretch back decades and extend out through a pair of interconnected family dynasties, struggling for power across two countries and a raging sea. Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy were two men destined to meet at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; two allies with no design on the English throne, who found themselves forced by circumstance and personal obsession into a war for possession of its crown.

Alongside Norton and Coster-Waldeau, the series also stars Indy Lewis (Industry) as Margaret, Emily Beecham (The Pursuit of Love), Clémence Poésy (The Essex Serpent), Eddie Marsan (The Winter King), Juliet Stevenson (Professor T), Luther Ford (The Crown), Geoff Bell (Top Boy), Bo Bragason (Renegade Nell), and Clare Holman (Sherwood). 

Supporting cast includes Jean-Marc Barr (Hope & Glory), Elliot Cowan (The Jetty), Bjarne Henriksen (Seaside Hotel), Oliver Mascucci (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore), Elander Moore (Kaos), Jason Forbes (My Lady Jane), Ingvar Sigurdsson (Killing Eve), Ines Asserson (Shetland), Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson (Stella Blómkvist), and Léo Legrand (Endless Night).  

King & Conqueror is created and written by Michael Robert Johnson (Sherlock Holmes), with Baltasar Kormákur (Everest) directing the premiere episode and overseeing the series' creative. Both will also serve as executive producers alongside Norton and Coster-Waldau. Other executive producers include Kitty Kaletsky for Rabbit Track Pictures, Robert Taylor for The Development Partnership, Dave Clarke and Richard Halliwell for Shepherd Content, Ed Clarke, Robert Jones, and CBS Studios’ Lindsey Martin.

The eight-part series is slated to premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the U.K. later this month. No word yet on when it will debut on Prime Video, but here's hoping for sooner rather than later.