Amazon Prime Video has already made its play for the sword and sorcery audience with the now-canceled Wheel of Time and the still-ongoing Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
This month, however, Prime Video is going with swords minus sorcery with King & Conqueror, a historical drama miniseries produced by the BBC.
King & Conqueror has been on Watch With Us‘ radar for a while, and it’s our pick for the one Prime Video show in November 2025 that you have to watch.
Critics have given it a mixed response, but audiences have been more receptive.
The Two Leads Give Committed Performances
There may not be any dragons in King & Conqueror, but there is a Lannister. Game of Thrones‘ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has one of the leading roles in the series as William, Duke of Normandy. Or as he’s more commonly known, William the Conqueror. His counterpart on this series is Harold Godwinson, as played by James Norton.
The writing for Coster-Waldau’s character isn’t as layered or as complex as it was on Game of Thrones when he played Jaime Lannister. But he gives himself fully to the role of William, and his performance is easily the best thing about the miniseries. Similarly, Norton is very good as Harold. One of the unfortunate changes to the show is that it doesn’t give Harold and William as much time together as they had in real life. They weren’t always enemies, and some of the impact of their split is lost without that shared past.
‘King and Conqueror’ Blends History With Fiction
King & Conqueror‘s lack of complete fidelity to history means that the story of William and Harold’s friendship is truncated and dramatically shortened. The series would have been even better if it had taken the time to fully explore that bond and what it meant when they found each other on opposite sides of the battlefield. That’s a change that worked against the interests of this miniseries.
But it’s not the only change, and some of the adjustments to history work really well. Lady Emma (Juliet Stevenson), using her force of personality to influence her son, King Edward (Eddie Marsan), isn’t strictly accurate either, but that gives their scenes together extra flavor and makes her the hand that rocks the throne from behind the scenes. It’s an interesting direction for the series to take while Edward is in power. But as you might have guessed, Edward’s reign doesn’t last the span of the series.
‘King and Conqueror’ Is Not ‘Game of Thrones’ — and That’s a Good Thing
If you go into King & Conqueror expecting the same level of spectacle and cinematic action that Game of Thrones had on HBO, then you’re probably going to be disappointed. This isn’t that kind of show, and it had a much smaller budget to work with.
The good news is that there are some old-school sword battles that end just as you might expect from a show that’s on the edge of TV-MA content. This isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s far and away the best show to watch on Prime Video in November.
King & Conqueror is streaming on Prime Video.
