Following his powerful turn as Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ava DuVernay’s 2014 biopic Selma, David Oyelowo is again portraying an influential historical figure — opposite Gone Girl‘s Rosamund Pike — in the new trailer for the upcoming drama A United Kingdom.
Oyelowo plays King Seretse Khama of Botswana, who meets and falls in love with Ruth Williams, a white woman from London, causing an international uproar after the couple decides to marry in the late 1940s — on the cusp of apartheid in South Africa.
As evidenced by the trailer, their union sparks tensions from both Botswanan and British parties.
“We’ve misjudged this, haven’t we?” Pike muses after scenes of opposition to their marriage (“Who do you think will accept you as if it were your right to be our queen?” a woman asks her) flash onscreen.
The film earned positive critical reviews after premiering in September at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. English director Amma Asante, who helms the project, previously earned critical acclaim for her work on the 2013 period drama Belle, which stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw and similarly tackles issues of race in British history.
A United Kingdom opens Feb. 17 in theaters. Watch the film’s trailer above, and check out its theatrical poster below.