Emily Beecham, Clémence Poésy Join James Norton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in ‘King & Conqueror’ Series

Emily Beecham and Clémence Poésy have joined James Norton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the cast of the period drama series King and Conqueror, about the Battle of Hastings, from CBS Studios.

The show is based on the 11th-century figures Harold of Wessex, played by Norton (Happy Valley, Bob Marley: One Love) and William of Normandy, or William the Conqueror, portrayed by Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones).

Beecham (1899, Little Joe) will play Edith Swanneck, “the wife of Harold Godwinson who has never quite found her place in Harold’s family,” according to a plot description. “She married Harold for love and protection, but never expected her husband to end up fighting for the English crown.” Poésy (In Bruges, The Tunnel) will play Matilda, the wife of William of Normandy. “Raised in the cutthroat world of the royal court, she has realized that in order to succeed she has to be more devious, more ruthless and more bloody than her male opponents,” explains the show description.

The BBC has acquired broadcasting rights for the series on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the U.K. The series will be distributed outside of U.K. by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

King and 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,” according to a plot summary. “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.”

Written by Michael Robert Johnson (Sherlock Holmes), the eight-episode series will see Norton also serve as an executive producer through his production company Rabbit Track Pictures. Coster-Waldau is directing an episode and also serves as executive producer. Baltasar Kormákur (Everest, 2 Guns, Trapped) will direct the premiere episode and, as executive producer, steer the creative across the series. The series is produced by The Development Partnership, Rabbit Track, Shepherd Content, RVK Studios and CBS Studios, in association with the BBC. It is created and executive-produced by Johnson.

Also serving as executive producers are Kitty Kaletsky for Rabbit Track, Kormákur for RVK Studios, Robert Taylor for The Development Partnership, Dave Clarke and Richard Halliwell for Shepherd Content, Ed Clarke, Robert Jones and CBS Studios’ Lindsey Martin.

Production is slated to start in Iceland “shortly,” CBS Studios said.

Beecham is repped by Accelerate, CAA, Entertainment 360 and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher. Poésy is repped by Agence Adequat in France, DO Mgmt, United Agents in the UK and MGMT. Entertainment.