BRITANNIA A SKY ORIGINAL PRODUCTION All episodes of Britannia will be available Thursday 18 January exclusively on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV 1 NO ONE WANTS TO BE CIVILISED 43AD. At the far edges of the Roman Empire lies a land of powerful Druids and warrior queens. A country Julius Caesar had tried and failed to conquer a hundred years ago. A place which lies tantalisingly close to the Roman Empire’s grasp and has almost mythic status: Britannia. The Romans’ arrival will forever change the lives of the Celts and Druids. Under General Aulus, 400 ships containing 20,000 men land on Britannia’s shores Introduction 1 in the name of the Roman Emperor Claudius. They will take the island and anything Character Guide 5 they want from it. Britannia will be conquered. Britannia will be civilised. Episode Guide 14 But since when did anyone want to be civilised? Interviews 19 All episodes of Britannia will be available Thursday 18 January exclusively on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV 2 INTRODUCTION Why invade a foreign land? Why fight for your home and your gods? These are the two questions at the heart of Jez Butterworth’s approach to the story of the Roman invasion of Britain in 43AD. In Jez’s unique hands, this becomes a tale of faith systems clashing, of families torn apart, of mystic men and fearsome queens. A tale told with humour and heart. As well as epic drama and violence. Drama on Sky is about the unexpected, the visceral and the memorable, it’s about stories told in a way you won’t find anywhere else. As you would expect from the brilliant writer behind Spectre and multi- award-winning plays Jerusalem and The Ferryman, Britannia delivers. It’s a fun, thought-provoking, emotional ride into a very special world. Produced by Vertigo Films in association with Neal Street Productions, Britannia was created by Jez Butterworth (Spectre), Tom Butterworth (Tin Star) and James Richardson (Monsters). Britannia will launch on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV, with all episodes available in Ultra HD from Thursday 18 January. We truly hope everyone enjoys kicking off the New Year by diving deep into our nation’s dark, unruly past, in a journey that will take you all the way to the underworld and back. Thank you for watching. Anne Mensah Head of drama, Sky All episodes of Britannia will be available Thursday 18 January exclusively on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV 3 CHARACTER GUIDE All episodes of Britannia will be available Thursday 18 January exclusively on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV 4 “I AM ROME. AND WHERE I WALK IS ROME” Aulus Plautius David Morrissey Fearless, ruthless, perceptive, and shrewd. Aulus is one of the greatest Generals to have commanded a Roman legion. He’s been charged by Emperor Claudius to conquer Britannia. However, instead of attempting to crush the island’s tribes by sheer force, his methods are more meticulous. He is particularly skilled at turning foes against each other, earning the trust of those who might otherwise be his enemy, and then disposing of them only if they have outlived their usefulness to him. With utter belief in his own strength, Aulus has kept one thing from even those closest to him. He believes the Druids hold the secrets to the universe, and may be the key to his own personal agenda, one that goes beyond Rome. All episodes of Britannia will be available Thursday 18 January exclusively on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV 5 kerra Kelly Reilly Daughter of King Pellenor, Kerra is as skilled a warrior as any other member of the Cantii tribe, but her headstrong nature has fed the bitter animosity between the Cantii and Regni, and, afraid of incurring even more of the gods’ anger, her father treats her like a prisoner in her own home. She loves her father dearly, but is trapped by his convictions and unswerving faith. “SOMETIMES, FATHERS She hates those that he reveres – the Druids – ever since they cast judgement upon her mother, sentencing her to be flayed DECIDE WHO THEIR alive as she and her father watched. More than anything she CHILDREN ARE. FOR dreams of a life free from the shackles of both her tribe and THEIR OWN REASONS. the gods. But destiny has more in mind for Kerra, and she will discover that the fate of her people will be placed squarely in IT DOESN’T MEAN her hands. IT’S TRUE.” All episodes of Britannia will be available Thursday 18 January exclusively on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV 6 veran Mackenzie Crook Veran is an enigma. It is claimed he is 10,000 years old and was the second man placed on the planet. He is said to know the secrets of both this world and the next. But there is one thing the tribes believe that gives him and his Druids immense power: he speaks for the gods. This has made his word law, and given the Druids the status to command both the Cantii and “ARE YOU SURE Regni, even as they fight among themselves. We may never know if Veran truly communes with the divine, but his status YOU’RE READY, and uncanny powers of precognition have made him the most ROME? powerful man on the island – although there are those who would gladly see his demise. As Rome sets foot on Britannia, READY FOR WHAT Veran welcomes it in his own unique fashion. Could he sense YOU’LL FIND?” opportunity with this new arrival, or merely his own amusement? All episodes of Britannia will be available Thursday 18 January exclusively on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV 7 “GET IN MY WAY AND WE’LL KILL ALL OF YOU.” Queen Antedia Zoë Wanamaker It is said that hatred is more reliable than trust. And no one hates like Antedia, Queen of the Regni. She is as fierce and unforgiving as anyone you could ever meet, and she will never, ever forget a slight. The Regni and Cantii borders have been a scene of bloodshed for an age, but things intensified after a failed attempt to unite the warring factions. By edict of the Druids, Antedia was forced to see her son and only heir Gildas wed to the Cantii princess Kerra. Their union was extremely short-lived, and prematurely cut Antedia’s bloodline short. Humiliated and betrayed by both the Cantii and the gods, Antedia has been seeking her revenge ever since. And with the arrival of Rome, she may finally have the means to get it. All episodes of Britannia will be available Thursday 18 January exclusively on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV 8 “I'LL FIND THE F****** ROMANS “I’M NOT AN OUTCAST. MYSELF!” I’M THE OUTCAST.” cait divis Eleanor Worthington-Cox Nikolaj Lie Kaas A young Cantii, Cait is soon to be initiated into womanhood Once a Druid, Divis has fallen out of favour and is now a loner in her village’s Solstice Eve ceremony. However, before the living off the land. Callous, shambolic, self-serving, and with rite-of-passage can be completed, Roman soldiers attack the his sanity questionable, the neighbouring tribes keep him at settlement, setting her home ablaze, killing her sister, and arm’s length – exactly what he wants. But on the fateful Solstice leaving her “betwixt”, stuck in a limbo-like space where she Eve that brings Rome to Britannia, Divis has a vision. One that is neither a girl or woman. With everything she has come to makes clear the Roman army is not merely a construct of flesh know and love gone and not knowing if she will ever find safety and steel, but a living incarnation of the Earth demon Lokka, again, she is forced to draw on reserves of mental and physical who has come to lay waste upon the land. Seeing himself as strength she never knew she had in order to survive. However, the only one who can stop this, Divis sets forth on his own there is far more to Cait than meets the eye. No one, least of personal mission, only to be reluctantly saddled with an often all herself, could have fully predicted the importance she will antagonistic companion, Cait. go on to have for her tribe, the Druids, Rome, and the future of Britannia itself. All episodes of Britannia will be available Thursday 18 January exclusively on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV 9 King Pellanor Phelan Ian McDiarmid Julian Rhind-Tutt King of the Cantii, Pellanor’s conviction in the ancient ways is Son to Pellanor, Phelan is the de facto heir to the Cantii throne total, which may be why he marks Rome’s arrival on Britannia and his right-hand man. More strategic and rational than his as an affront in and of itself. Believing, for all their words, they wrathful father, he attempts to add more diplomacy to his will go the same way as Julius Caesar, he is more preoccupied father’s leadership. However, in Cantii terms this has done by the ongoing war in the hated Regni tribe, and the troubles nothing for his own standing, and many in the tribe see him as within his own family – primarily surrounding his unruly a weak proposition for the Cantii throne. This outrages his wife, daughter Kerra. Perhaps his defining trait is his unswerving Amena, whose only attraction to Phelan is her own path to the faith in the Druids, believing them to be vessels of the divine.