So far, fans of Game of Thrones who started watching when the first season aired have cumulatively spent 1588 days waiting for new content. With the season 7 premiere delayed until summer instead of the usual April air date, we’ll have an even longer wait this year. This pales in comparison to the nearly 20 years readers have spent waiting for new books in the series. With no reliable update on the ‘Winds of Winter’ release date, not even an archmaester could know how much time we have to fill.
The struggle to find the perfect Game of Thrones fix in the off-season is endless. Some attempt to spend their time leading a Blackfyre rebellion against their roommates, while others have sadly went the way of Aegon the Unlikely and perished in a failed attempt to birth their own dragons. Luckily, Netflix has provided another excellent option that poses far less risk to your personal health.
The Last Kingdom premiered on BBC America in 2015, but with few streaming options it was sadly under watched. Netflix, ever in search of their own Game of Thrones, stepped in. They not only added season 1 to their library this summer, but also came on as a co-producer for season 2. With season 2 likely to premiere on Netflix before Game of Thrones season 7 airs next summer, that’s two full seasons of medieval intrigue, violence, and betrayal to sate you during the eternal wait.
As any Game of Thrones fan knows, George RR Martin drew heavily on history when he developed ‘A Song of Ice and Fire.’ We also know that in the history of the show, the Seven Kingdoms didn’t start out as unified. It wasn’t until Aegon the Conqueror arrived with his dragons that the kingdoms fell under the rule of one king. George drew on the historical unification of England when constructing this history. In contrast, The Last Kingdom tells the story of how the real-life seven kingdoms of England became unified.
In the real history and in the show The Last Kingdom, Aegon the Conqueror and his dragons are actually the Viking hordes that invaded Britain in the 9th century. The Vikings conquered each of the seven kingdoms in England, except one, the titular Last Kingdom. The show follows both the larger political movements of the last independent king’s struggle to remain free and the intimate Machiavellian plots for power and personal betrayals that fill this history.
Our main character, Uhtred (pronounced OO-tred), was born Saxon but raised by Vikings. He remains a part of both worlds but not bound by the moral codes of either. Think Jaime Lannister meets Jon Snow. Like Jaime, Uhtred is swarthy, strong, sassy and just wants to do his own thing. Like Jon, he’s torn by loyalty to two opposing sides of a massive conflict. If a Jaime-Jon mash-up protagonist is not enough to excite you about The Last Kingdom, then you truly know nothing, Jon Snow.
Watch The Last Kingdom season 1 on Netflix now and keep an eye out for news on the release of season 2.
