'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.)

Norton plays Godwinson, also known as King Harold II, the brother-in-law of England's King Edward the Confessor, who was famously religious and died childless. An influential figure in the king's court, Harold won several important battles against the Welsh and likely saw himself as Edward's heir. However, he and his family had been involved in a rebellion that saw most of them exiled for several years.

But in 1064, Harold was shipwrecked at Ponthieu in France, and what happened next was quite murky, historically speaking. Many historians (as well as the famous Bayeux Tapestry) insist Harold was sent to France to confirm William was Edward's official choice to succeed him as his heir. Others claim that Harold was held hostage and forced to swear a loyalty oath to support William's claim to the throne. 

Whichever of those versions is accurate remains a mystery. We know that when Harold declared himself Edward's heir following the king's death in January of 1066, William used Godwinson's (alleged) previous oath to secure Papal support for his invasion of England. King Harold II ruled for nine months before William landed in September 1066, and the two faced off at the Battle of Hastings. 

The rest, as they say, is history, though some bits of it (such as the gruesome story that an arrow allegedly killed Harold through the eye) are certainly more colorful than others.

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 British 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.

King.& Conqueror will premiere in 2025 on both BBC One and BBC iPlayer. It does not yet have an American distributor, but with such a prestige cast and pedigree behind it, it probably won't take long to find a home on this side of the pond.