Nikolaj Coster-Waldau & James Norton Face Off in 'King & Conqueror'

"Power isn't given. Power is taken." So intones a voice in the first trailer for the BBC's forthcoming historical epic King & Conqueror, an eight-part re-imagining of one of the foundational moments in English history — but given a modern twist with plenty of violence, blood, and gore on top. The lavish series follows the story of two men whose battlefield face-off shaped the identity of England (as well as much of the future of Europe) for centuries afterward: Harold Godwinson (James Norton), Earl of Wessex, later known as King Harold II, and William (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Duke of Normandy, more commonly rememberd as William the Conqueror.

Though it's clear from the trailer that their paths inexorably lead to Godwinson's defeat at William's hands during the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the show appears to be just as interested in the identities of the two men at the heart of this fateful clash, and the relationship they once shared. And there's certainly plenty of drama to go around, including a complicated succession crisis, an interconnected family dynasty at war with itself, a shipwreck, a Viking invasion, and more.

When Edward the Confessor died, Harold Hardrada, the King of Norway, and William of Normandy both attempted to take the English throne. But the man who emerged victorious was Godwinson, brother-in-law of Edward, who managed to get himself crowned just a day after the king's death. This caused no shortage of inter-family strife: Harold, technically, wasn't a blood relative of the late king's, but was part of England's most powerful noble family, brother of the widowed queen, and influential in the English government. William was a cousin whosaid Edward had promised him the throne. But he was also a foreigner, having been raised in Normandy, and had no natural power base in England.