Downton Abbey fans will love The Last Kingdom, executive producer says

As Downton Abbey fans prepare for the show’s final season, lovers of the Crawleys will be able to fill the impending void with executive producer Gareth Neame’s new series The Last Kingdom.

“In the same way that I wanted to take an expressly familiar British drama in Downton Abbey and create something fresh and new, I’ve tried to do the same thing here,” Neame reveals in a video.

The Last Kingdom follows Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon, American Horror Story) as he struggles to find a sense of identity during the battle between the Danes and Saxons in early England. Adapted from Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories, Neame says he tried to put a fresh spin on the tale, which takes place in 9 A.D. as England starts to come together.

“I’ve tried to take a piece of deep history, to refresh it, to make it something that will be accessible to modern audiences,” Neame says in the clip.

The Emmy award-winning producer compares Kingdom to Downton, and says that although the new drama features hundreds of people in battle scenes, the costuming on the PBS hit is simpler. “An average day’s filming on Downton involves all those ladies changing their clothes about seven times the same day,” Neame explains. “The great thing about this show is once Uhtred puts his clothes on, he pretty much keeps those clothes all the way through.”

For more from Neame, check out the full clip above.

The Last Kingdom premieres Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on BBC America.