James Norton opens up about painful on-set injury while shooting King & Conqueror

Actor James Norton suffered a brutal on-set injury while shooting for King & Conqueror, the ongoing BBC One historical series based on the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century.

Filming for Michael Robert Johnson's epic period series began in Iceland in March 2024, particularly in Heiðmörk and around Reykjavík. As revealed by the Grantchester star, he suffered a painful injury while rehearsing for a battle sequence, following which he broke his collarbone. While the actor recovered quickly and returned for shooting, it was a rather painful injury.

King & Conqueror, which premiered on August 24, is based on the infamous Battle of Hastings in 11th-century England. When King Edward the Confessor sits on the throne without an heir, the once allies Harold Godwinson (Norton) and William, Duke of Normandy (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), become bitter enemies, eventually fighting for the English throne in the Battle of Hastings.

More on this in our story.

James Norton's on-set injury on the King & Conqueror sets

While shooting period dramas is challenging enough, complete with heavy costumes & weapons, James Norton suffered a painful injury while shooting for King & Conqueror.

In an interview with The Times, Norton revealed how he fell from his horse while filming for the Battle of Hastings and the Battle of Stamford Bridge scenes:

“In some of the battle scenes in the latter half of the shoot, I’m yelping very loudly and the yelps are pretty authentic. I fell off a horse and I landed on my shoulder. Actually, it was a remarkably quick recovery, and it didn’t affect shooting. Luckily, we dealt with it. The collarbone recovers very quickly. It was just quite painful.”

While the fall was during a rehearsal for King & Conqueror, and the actor made a quick recovery, it was still painful at the time, as James Norton further revealed to Radio Times:

“It was painful but, luckily, it goes to show how incredibly collaborative this crew was. We dealt with it. It was during a rehearsal and I fell off a horse and landed on my shoulder. Actually, it was a remarkably quick recovery and it didn’t affect the shooting, it just was quite painful.”

Additional reports suggest that Norton took a break from filming in Iceland and eventually recovered from his broken collarbone. The actor is now healed from his painful injury.

James Norton initially wanted to play William in King & Conqueror

James Norton was already cast in Joss Whedon's sci-fi series The Nevers on HBO when he began developing King & Conqueror. While the actor's contract clearly stated that he could not appear in another returning series on the network, he was attracted to the character of William, Duke of Normandy, partly because he won the battle and partly because of his 'cerebral nature.'

However, James Norton (who is also an EP on the historical series) was only permitted to star in King & Conqueror if his character would die in the first season, which (spoiler alert) Harold Godwinson does. The idea was that if the medieval series returned for a sophomore season, it could create a conflict of interest for the network and the actor.

Therefore, Norton took on Godwinson's role, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was cast as William, which eventually worked out for both the actors, as Norton said during a press conference:

“Nikolai is so right for William. I think he would say the same thing. I loved the journey I went on with Harold. And I think he did with William.”

King & Conqueror releases weekly episodes on Amazon Prime Video.

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