First look at Downton Abbey's Matthew Goode in new movie as UK release date confirmed

Downton Abbey's Matthew Goode is back on the big screen, alongside X-Men: The Last Stand's Ben Foster and The Dark Knight Trilogy's Michael Caine in the new historical action epic Medieval.

The film tells the story of Jan Žižka, a famous Czech warlord who fought off the armies of the Holy Roman Empire and the Teutonic Order in the early 1400s.

He was known as One-eyed Žižka as he famously lost one eye, but eventually lost them both. Despite his blindness, he was said to have still commanded his forces and, through ahead-of-their-time means, never lost a major battle.

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Although the main cast aren't Czech (beyond the big three, we've also got The Chronicles of Narnia's William Mosely and Inglorious Basterds' Til Schweig), a few Czech actors do make up the cast.

Director Petr Jákl is also Czech, and a former Judo fighter at that, while production took place across various parts of the country, include in and around multiple castles. It's even reported to be the most expensive Czech film of all time.

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As for one of Goode's most notable roles, the second Downton Abbey movie, A New Era, finally came out earlier this year – although Goode's character Henry Talbot wasn't in it.

It was explained in the film that his character was racing cars elsewhere in the world, but the real-world reason was that Goode was actually filming The Godfather-related TV series The Offer, which recently premiered on streaming service Paramount+.

Medieval will be released in cinemas, on digital and on demand from October 28.