The year is 872, and many of the separate kingdoms of what we now know as England have fallen to the invading Danes, leaving the great kingdom of Wessex standing alone and defiant under the command of King Alfred (David Dawson, Peaky Blinders). Against this turbulent backdrop lives our hero, Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon, American Horror Story). Born the son of a Saxon nobleman, he is captured by the Danes and raised as one of their own. Forced to choose between the country of his birth and the peopl e of his upbringing, his loyalties are ever tested. What is he? Saxon or Dane? On a quest to reclaim his birthright , Uhtred must tread a dangerous path between bot h sides if he is to play his part in the birth of a new nation and, ult imately, recapture his ancestral lands. From the Producers of Downton Abbey. Also starring Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), Matthew Macfadyen (Anna Karenina), Jason Flemyng (X-Men: First Class), Tobias Santelmann (Point Break), Emily Cox (Futuro Beach) and Ian Hart (Boardwalk Empire).