The Last Kingdom: Matthew Macfadyen joins the lineup

BBC, BBC American and Carnival Films have unveiled the lineup for the new Viking TV drama "The Last Kingdom".

"The Last Kingdom" is based on Bernard Cornwell's bestselling series The Saxon Stories.  The drama has begun filming with production in Hungary and the U.K.

The lineup includes Matthew Macfadyen, David Dawson (Fred Best in Ripper Street) , Rutger Hauer, Alexander Dreymon, Emily Cox, Ian Hart, Tobias Santelmann, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Peter Gantzler, Joseph Millson (played alongside Matthew in Enid), Alexandre Willaume, Rune Temte and Henning Valin Jakobsen.

Set in the 9th century, when much of what is now called England is under the rule of the Vikings, The Last Kingdom focuses on the Kingdom of Wessex, the only remaining outpost holding out against the foreign invaders. Dawson will play King Alfred the Great, while Dreymoon plays the main protagonist Uhtred, the son of a Saxon nobleman who is orphaned by the Vikings and brought up as one of their own and forced to choose his path.

There are 8 planned 60 minute episodes.