Ripper Street's Matthew Macfadyen and David Dawson will star opposite American Horror Story's Alexander Dreymon, Boardwalk Empire's Ian Hart and Blade Runner's Rutger Hauer in The Last Kingdom, a new BBC series based on the novels of Bernard Cornwell.
The eight-part series, which is based on Cornwell's The Warrior Chronicles/Saxon Stories, tells the story of a Saxon nobleman's son (Dreymon) who is kidnapped by Vikings but later returns home to fight them.
Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, said: "I hope The Last Kingdom will expand BBC Two's distinctive portfolio of drama. It's an epic narrative with an extraordinary creative team."
He added: "It will feel like nothing else on television, with all of the scale and intrigue of the best fantasy stories but the reality of fact."
Filming is already underway.
