'King & Conqueror's First Images Depict a Battle That Will Change England Forever

Our first look at BBC's upcoming historical epic King & Conqueror has arrived, offering a gritty preview of the sweeping eight-part drama that stars James Norton (Grantchester) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) as two of the most important figures in English history: Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, and William of Normandy, more popularly known as William the Conqueror. The two famously faced off in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, an event that transformed not only the identity of England as we understand it today but most of Europe.

The defeat and death of Godwinson, the last of the Anglo-Saxon English kings, ushered in profound changes that altered the Church, the aristocracy, the government, and even the country's language. However, rather than focus on the fateful battle, King & Conqueror aims to tell the tale of these momentous events through the stories of two men at its center. The lead-up to their fateful confrontation has plenty of drama in its own right, involving a complicated succession crisis, an interconnected family dynasty at war with itself, and even a literal shipwreck.

(Ok, fine, that last one's a maybe.)