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Acting in a period piece is nothing new for Vincent Kartheiser. He did, after all, spend seven seasons playing often-amoral ad man Pete Campbell in the 1960s-era "Mad Men."

Now he's stepped back almost 3 ½ centuries further in "Saints & Strangers," playing William Bradford, the governor of the Plymouth Colony — a man described as the moral compass of the group we know as the Pilgrims.

"It is very much the opposite of Pete Campbell," a character who had "almost no moral compass at all," he said.

"Playing in the 1620s is amazing. The culture and the people are so very different, and the rules are so much more rigid in the society. But this is a different 1620 than most of the world experienced because we are in the New World, where there are no rules. They are making them up as they go along. It's every man for himself."

The National Geographic Channel's two-part, four-hour re-creation of the events that led up to the first Thanksgiving are far from the simple tale told to schoolchildren. It's a complex story of people who were not quite the heroic figures so often portrayed, and a political story involving divisions not just among the English but among the tribes who had been decimated by a plague brought by earlier encounters with Englishmen.

The "Saints" in this story are the Pilgrims — who, as it turns out, are more separatist than Puritans. And "Strangers" are the English who were interested in colonization for economic gain.

And, while the title ignores the American Indians, their story is told more fully than most viewers have ever seen before.

There is hardship all around. The journey on the Mayflower is a nightmare that's almost unimaginable for 21st-century Americans who struggle when their flights are delayed.

"I would not have fared well," Kartheiser said. "I don't fare well on a five-hour flight. People back then were stronger and more adaptable."

And there was much more adapting that had to be done. Yes, the settlers barely survived their first winter in the New World. And, yes, they got help from the American Indians.

But there's much more to the story — much more that comes out in this meticulously researched project. Filmed on location in South Africa, believe it or not, the re-created Mayflower, American Indian villages, English-built fort, costumes, weapons and more come across as authentic.

How meticulous is the re-creation? The American Indian characters speak a language called Abenaki, a dialect that is spoken by fewer than 20 people in the world today.

"I think, more than anything else, I just want other native people to realize … that these languages are still spoken," said Raoul Trujillo, who stars as Massasoit, the leader of the Pokanoket tribe. "And as an actor, we really try to honor, as best as we can, who these people were and the world views they had."

"Saints & Strangers" is focused on the English settlers, but not to the exclusion of the American Indians. Massasoit isn't simply interested in helping the settlers, he's interested in forming an alliance that can help his plague-ravaged people.

"From my perspective, Massasoit represents not just the short history we are covering in this film, but also about 150 years of watching an assault on the native people by the English settlers," Trujillo said. "Disease came with them, and that turmoil resulted in tribe versus tribe.

"What I am trying to bring to him is that sense of someone who is a war general and chief, but also has a desperation to save his people, which is his utmost concern. He is tackling both potential conflicts with the English and ongoing conflicts with other native tribes."

Yes, eventually they do get to that first Thanksgiving.

"What is amazing is how the Pilgrims could be thankful even though they didn't have much," Kartheiser said. "All they had was a piece of biscuit and warm beer. They arrived with nothing, landed in winter, slept in the cold and were sick, and yet they were thankful."

The story is one filled with familiar names — Squanto, Myles Standish, John Alden, Priscilla Mullins and more — but the road they travel is a much different route than most Americans learned in school. And it tells a side of the story that has been, at best, glossed over.

"National Geographic Channel in this telling has gone in deep and tried to desanitize the story," Trujillo said. " 'Saints & Strangers' gets deeply involved in the politics among the Indian nations that were also in conflict with each other. It sets up Massasoit as a leader who needs to make choices that will save his people.

"What I am hoping is that this retelling shows a bigger picture of the conflict among the tribes, and the difficulty of surviving before completely disappearing."

On TV

The two-part, four-hour "Saints & Strangers" airs Sunday and Monday on the National Geographic Channel. Part 1 debuts Sunday at 7 and 9 p.m. and repeats Monday at 5 and 9 p.m. Part 2 debuts Monday at 7 and 11 p.m.

"Saints & Strangers" also repeats on Thanksgiving Day; Part 1 airs at 5 and 9 p.m. and Part 2 at 7 and 11 p.m.