James Norton, hailing from North Yorkshire, is undoubtedly one of the UK’s best actors with everything he touches turning to pure gold, from his incredible turn as Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley to his more recent role in Playing Nice, which became ITVX’s biggest-ever launch. Now, he’s back in action for another gripping BBC drama, King & Conqueror, starring alongside none other than Game of Thrones legend Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who’ll be donning the chainmail once again.
Expectations are sky-high for King & Conqueror, which is set to air sometime in 2025 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. In the series, Norton plays Harold, Earl of Wessex, with Nikolaj taking on the role of William, Duke of Normandy, as the eight-part historical epic explores the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066—a clash that changed the course of British history.
Norton and crew are currently in Iceland filming, and Norton recently shared some behind-the-scenes insight during a London Screenings event, Deadline reports: Norton said”It was a brutal shoot”.
Continuing: “I was covered in mud and blood and layers of leather.” Speaking of Johnson the creators approach, Norton said: “He had a very clear vision around the tone and the aesthetic – from the very beginning he wanted to avoid this being a clean, cosy period drama. It took me hours every day to get ready… because I had layer after layer of leather and chain mail. It paid dividends because you can see everything is so authentic. That was something [Kormákur] was very stubborn about and it was so worth it in the end.”
But this isn’t just another testosterone-fueled historical epic. There’s a strong focus on character depth and the emotional lives of the central figures—particularly their domestic relationships.
“One of the things we were really keen to avoid was for it to become this butch beat-me-up testosterone filled kind of journey. We didn’t want it to just be battle after battle and fight after fight. One of the big things [producer] Kitty [Kaletsky] brought in was focusing on the domestic, it is a story about William and Harold, but it’s really a story about couples.”
Michael Robert Johnson writes the series, which is described as: “a 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.”
Produced by The Development Partnership, Rabbit Track Pictures (co-owned by James Norton and Kitty Kaletsky), Shepherd Content, RVK Studios, and CBS Studios, in association with the BBC. As os yet, there is no air date yet, but it’s said to be release in 2025 – so keep you eyes peeled.
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Feature Image Credit: BBC/ Lilja Jons
