Lund Studio Productions · Series Pitch
HBO · MAX · BBC
THE SCOTTISH WAR
Braveheart was 30% true. This is 100%. And the real story is better.
1296–1328. England conquers Scotland. William Wallace — not a Highland warrior, a lowland landowner — leads a guerrilla uprising and wins the Battle of Stirling Bridge by letting the English cross halfway, then attacking. He is betrayed, captured, and executed. Robert the Bruce — a nobleman who switched sides three times — picks up the crown Wallace died for. He wins at Bannockburn. Scotland becomes free. The Declaration of Arbroath (1320) invents the concept of popular sovereignty. The real story rewrites Braveheart.
3
Seasons
24
Episodes
22
Characters
1296
Setting
Seasons
Three leaders. Three prices for freedom.
SEASON 1 · THE GUARDIAN
William Wallace · 1296–1305
8 episodes
Edward I of England (Longshanks) conquers Scotland in 1296. He steals the Stone of Scone. He installs English governors. William Wallace — a minor landowner, not a Highland chief — kills the English sheriff of Lanark (possibly after the murder of his wife, though this is debated). The revolt spreads. At Stirling Bridge (September 1297), Wallace and Andrew de Moray destroy an English army by exploiting the narrow bridge. Wallace is named Guardian of Scotland. De Moray dies of wounds. Wallace raids northern England. Then Falkirk (July 1298): Edward brings longbowmen. Wallace’s schiltrons are annihilated. He resigns, fights guerrilla for 7 years. Captured near Glasgow. Hanged, drawn, and quartered at Smithfield, London. August 23, 1305. His limbs sent to Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling, and Perth. The season ends with his head on London Bridge.
SEASON 2 · THE SPIDER
Robert the Bruce · 1306–1314
8 episodes
Robert the Bruce murders his rival John Comyn in a church. He seizes the Scottish crown. Edward I sends an army. Bruce loses at Methven, flees to Rathlin Island. His wife, daughter, and sisters are captured — some imprisoned in cages hung from castle walls for years. The spider in the cave (legend: he watches a spider try to spin its web six times and fail, then succeed on the seventh). Bruce returns. Guerrilla campaign. He takes back Scotland castle by castle. Edward I dies en route to fight him (1307). Edward II is weaker. Bannockburn (June 1314): Bruce’s 6,000 defeat Edward’s 20,000. The English cavalry charges into prepared ground. Scotland wins the most important battle in its history.
SEASON 3 · THE DECLARATION
The Peace · 1314–1328
8 episodes
Scotland is free but not recognized. Bruce ravages northern England to force terms. The Declaration of Arbroath (April 6, 1320) — written to the Pope, signed by 51 Scottish nobles — declares that the king rules by consent of the people, not divine right. “For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule.” It influences the American Declaration of Independence 456 years later. Edward II is deposed by Isabella (She-Wolf, see our other production). Edward III signs the Treaty of Northampton (1328). Scotland is sovereign. Bruce dies of leprosy in 1329. His heart is carried on crusade by James Douglas, who dies fighting the Moors in Spain. The heart comes home. The season ends with the Stone of Scone still in London — it won’t return until 1996.
Characters
22 named roles. All real.
William Wallace
Guardian of Scotland · Executed 1305
Robert the Bruce
King of Scots · The Spider · Bannockburn
Edward I
Longshanks · Hammer of the Scots
Edward II
Weak king · Lost Bannockburn · Deposed
Isabella of France
The She-Wolf · Deposes Edward II
Andrew de Moray
Co-commander at Stirling · Died of wounds
John Comyn
Bruce’s rival · Murdered in a church
James Douglas
The Black Douglas · Bruce’s champion · Carried the heart
Elizabeth de Burgh
Bruce’s wife · Imprisoned 8 years
Marjorie Bruce
Bruce’s daughter · Caged at Roxburgh
Mary Bruce
Bruce’s sister · Caged from castle walls
John Balliol
Toom Tabard (empty coat) · puppet king
Thomas Randolph
Earl of Moray · Bruce’s nephew · Took Edinburgh by night
John Menteith
Betrayed Wallace to the English
Hugh de Cressingham
English Treasurer · Killed at Stirling · Scots made belts from his skin
Bernard de Linton
Wrote the Declaration of Arbroath
Comps
What this show replaces.
Braveheart
We correct it · 100% accuracy
Outlaw King
Good start · We finish it
The Crown
Constitutional weight
Vikings
Period · Audience · Scale
Wolf Hall
Political intelligence
Succession
Family · Betrayal · Power
The Pitch
“Braveheart was 30% true. We’re telling the other 70%.”
Braveheart made $210M and won 5 Oscars with a version of events that historians consider largely fictional. The real story — a man betrayed by every ally, executed in the most brutal way the medieval world could invent, whose cause was finished by a murderer who became a hero — is better than anything Mel Gibson invented.
We cross-pollinate with our Isabella (She-Wolf) show and War of the Roses. Isabella appears in Season 3 as the woman who destroys Edward II — the same character from a different angle. The Lund Studio Productions universe has internal continuity across centuries of real history. Characters overlap. Consequences carry. This is the MCU of medieval history, except everything actually happened.
© 2026 Carter Luense · Lund Studio LLC · Productions · Wallace Brand · War of the Roses · φ