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The Last Kingdom - BBC/Netflix - Cornwell's "Saxon Stories" - S1 available on Netflix

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captjohnboyd

Member
Honestly it blows my mind it didn't pick up ratings later in the season. Literally every single person I turned the show on to ended up loving it. It had pretty strong word of mouth on it's own as well but likely suffered some due to being on a little watched network like BBC America. I guess too many people thought it was just some GOT knock off as well and didn't give it a chance. I think a second season would remedy that though as it would most likely continue to have strong word of mouth making it difficult for TV watchers to ignore. Hopefully ;)
 
I

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
Ending was so rushed, but I enjoyed most of the season. Alfred was my favorite character, the actor nailed it imo.
 
H

Hamlet

Member
Great season finale if a tad rushed and fantastic season overall.
The final battle was really well done, it made for some great intense scenes. Especially loved the intensity from Uthred when he kills Skorpa. Poor Leofric though going to really miss the dude.
Also lol at the random perfect insult out of nowhere from Father Beocca.
Really do hope it gets picked up for a second season though if it ends here its a solid enough way to end on I guess. Still got War and Peace to look forward to at least from the BBC.
 
S

Sloane

Banned
captjohnboyd said:
Honestly it blows my mind it didn't pick up ratings later in the season. Literally every single person I turned the show on to ended up loving it. It had pretty strong word of mouth on it's own as well but likely suffered some due to being on a little watched network like BBC America. I guess too many people thought it was just some GOT knock off as well and didn't give it a chance. I think a second season would remedy that though as it would most likely continue to have strong word of mouth making it difficult for TV watchers to ignore. Hopefully ;)
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Yup, great show, definitely one of my favorites this year.
 
S

Summer Haze

Banned
Really enjoyed the finale and the series as a whole.

Absolutely hated Uhtred, though. The way he was written and acted almost put me off watching at times, he felt like a budget Ragnar from Vikings. The show was incredibly cheesey and cringeworthy at times, mostly because of him, and I'd honestly say he dragged the quality of the show down a little for me.

Thankfully the rest was good enough to keep me watching. The guy who plays Alfred is a great actor. Would love to see him get a lot more work.
 
Business

Business

Member
Cornballer said:
- Onion A|V Club review

Good finale! I really enjoyed this season, and while the small episode count meant they burned through a lot of plot quickly, I still think it worked overall. Very sad to see Leofric go out like that. :( As others have noted, Alfred's pre-battle speech was great.

Fingers crossed that this gets renewed, but if not, we can start a book club or something and read the series together. :p

Thanks for tuning in and participating in the thread.

XeUgbEi.jpg



EDIT:

4EZFEG4.gif

:(
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Abolutely up for that book club if they cancel the show. I've only read the first book but the show has sparked my interest on the story again.

Thank you for creating and taking care of the thread, we were few but it was still enjoyable.



About Leofric I liked that his death was completely ordinary, just a totally not epic hit while on the shield wall, no slowmo gloryfication or anything. Felt much more believable.
 
J

jett

D-Member
Thought it was an uneven but enjoyable first season. As far as shows of this sort go, it sits somewhere in the middle of the pack. Above the likes of Camelot and The Bastard Executioner (only saw 10 minutes of that, but it's enough to condemn it), but below shows like Rome, Vikings and Spartacus. The writing lacked a little punch, and the characters were on the whole kinda bland.

The main character is just intensely unlikable, and everyone else being a religious toadie somewhat annoyed me on a personal level. Leofric was the only you could say I liked.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- TV Insider: The Last Kingdom Finale: Secrets of the Final Battles (and a Potential Season 2)

A few snippets:
The season closed with King Alfred and the Saxons under the guidance of Viking-loving Saxon Uhtred of Bebbanburg winning the war with the Danes—a.k.a. the Vikings—to save Alfred’s kingdom, Wessex. Was that a way to end the series if need be?

We hope that it returns and I feel optimistic that it will. But because it’s based on a series of novels, each book has its own ending. The first season was the first two books in the franchise; we would continue with Book 3.
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You don’t romanticize Uhtred’s short comings. While he’s dashing in an Errol Flynn kind of way, he’s also emotionally cruel to his wife and can be very violent outside of battle as when he brutally killed a thieving tenant farmer.

Uhtred feels that people have done badly by him. He killed the mighty Viking warrior Ubba and others have taken credit for that. He offered his service to the king, who then forced him to marry a woman who was heavily indebted. He does fall in love with her but he becomes increasingly estranged when she becomes more and more pious and goes on a Christian path that holds no appeal for him. His idea of justice is meted out on that character Oswald when he knows that this man, after numerous warnings, is abusing his position. Uhtred’s idea of justice is pretty brutal and sudden and final. It’s quite shocking, but it really is dog-eat-dog, get out and protect what you have because no one else is going to do that.

The battle scenes really gave an idea of the closeness and brutality of battles. How much CGI was used? And who did you use for warriors in those battle scenes. It was filmed in Hungary, so Hungarian troops?

They’re a lot of stunt fighters. The huge battle at the very end, is a mixture of hundreds of stunt men and then it’s scaled up to the thousands of men that you see by CG.
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Will Alfred be a big part of a second season?

Yeah, he is a big character. There really are two storylines. One is the main personal story of Uhtred of Bebbenburg, who’s torn between these two identities-Saxon and Dane. He is very attracted by the Viking way of life, but he wants his stolen birthright—the estates of his Saxon father—back. He has that personal quest while Alfred has a more political story. He wants to create a nation. The two stories will continue to run side by side.
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Much more via the link.
 
Kadayi

Kadayi

Banned
Yeah I've been enjoying the series. I hope it gets renewed. Also agree about how they handled Leothric. i thought it was a good call.
 
C

captjohnboyd

Member
jett said:
Thought it was an uneven but enjoyable first season. As far as shows of this sort go, it sits somewhere in the middle of the pack. Above the likes of Camelot and The Bastard Executioner (only saw 10 minutes of that, but it's enough to condemn it), but below shows like Rome, Vikings and Spartacus. The writing lacked a little punch, and the characters were on the whole kinda bland.

The main character is just intensely unlikable, and everyone else being a religious toadie somewhat annoyed me on a personal level. Leofric was the only you could say I liked.
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I'm still on season 1 of Vikings but I find it crazy that anyone could think that show was better than the last kingdom. Terrible accents, battle scenes leaving a lot to be desired sometimes and a lack of cool real historical facts combine to vault kingdom ahead of vikings. I say that as a big fan of vikings though so......Rome on the other hand. I'll never forgive HBO for cancelling that, Deadwood and Carnivale in the span of like one year
 
Business

Business

Member
captjohnboyd said:
I'm still on season 1 of Vikings but I find it crazy that anyone could think that show was better than the last kingdom. Terrible accents, battle scenes leaving a lot to be desired sometimes and a lack of cool real historical facts combine to vault kingdom ahead of vikings. I say that as a big fan of vikings though so......Rome on the other hand. I'll never forgive HBO for cancelling that, Deadwood and Carnivale in the span of like one year
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Not sure about the accents but one thing Vikings did better was languages. I personally loved the old norse/old english bits and it's something I missed in The Last Kingdom, specially considering Uhtred speaks both and it's something he uses in the books. A bit of gaelic in Cornwall would have been the icing on the cake.
 
C

civilstrife

Member
True Story: I spent a summer with Bernard Cornwell acting in plays with him at a popular Cape Cod summer stock theater a few years ago.

Nicest, most gracious man you can imagine.
 
J

jett

D-Member
captjohnboyd said:
I'm still on season 1 of Vikings but I find it crazy that anyone could think that show was better than the last kingdom. Terrible accents, battle scenes leaving a lot to be desired sometimes and a lack of cool real historical facts combine to vault kingdom ahead of vikings. I say that as a big fan of vikings though so......Rome on the other hand. I'll never forgive HBO for cancelling that, Deadwood and Carnivale in the span of like one year
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I just like the characters in Vikings more. A lot more. Literally all of the characters. Ragnar is just way cooler than Uthred and actually much less of an asshole, despite being an actual viking. I also the story better, and just the setting in general, I guess.

Regarding the battle scenes, I put both them on equal ground. They're both sanitized for a PG-13-ish rating, there's almost no gruesome stuff in either. Same applies to the language, both shows refuse to utter a single curse word (I think TLK comes off laughable here, with its constant use of "hump.") The blu-ray/netflix version of Vikings does have a bit more violence and nudity at least. :p
 
T

Timbuktu

Member
Kadayi said:
Yeah I've been enjoying the series. I hope it gets renewed. Also agree about how they handled Leothric. i thought it was a good call.
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Hmm... I don't see the news on the internet but the BBC voiceover guy just said "The Last Kingdom will return... Exclusively on BBC 2" after the finale. So I guess it's renewed?

That was a good finale, I didn't see a lot of the things coming, but it all made sense. It does feel like Uhtred might have matured and got a bit more serious after so much happening in that finale. It would be great to see his growth in season 2. You know he'll head north and face Sven and that lot, but I hope they keep Alfred in the loop without it being too forced.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Timbuktu said:
Hmm... I don't see the news on the internet but the BBC voiceover guy just said "The Last Kingdom will return... Exclusively on BBC 2" after the finale. So I guess it's renewed?
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I don't think the BBC would let their announcer say that if it wasn't true. So. :)
 
R

Ratrat

Member
I started reading the first book recently, and looking at the op, did they age up the characters? Uhtreds dad dies when he's ten and hes then adopted by Ragnar. Also how much does the first season cover? Does it go past book 1?
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Ratrat said:
I started reading the first book recently, and looking at the op, did they age up the characters? Uhtreds dad dies when he's ten and hes then adopted by Ragnar. Also how much does the first season cover? Does it go past book 1?
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Apparently the first season covers the first two books.
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
Finished watching this a couple of nights ago with my wife, and we both really enjoyed it. Initially I thought it was ridiculously similar to Vikings, but this felt a bit more adventurey and light-hearted and got much more enjoyable by the series end. Uhtred is a stubborn idiot of a man, but I warmed to him by the end, and especially enjoyed his friendship with Leofric. I thought the actors were brilliant pretty much without exception - my favourite character being Ubba, who was scary and intimidating and warmongering, and I thought his actor just nailed it so perfectly. The whole arc with Alfred being victorious over the Danes was really interesting, but felt a little rushed in the last two or three episodes; I really hope they extrapolate more on this in the next series. And one thing that bothered me was that after everything Alfred was still hesitant to trust Uhtred, even though he almost single-handedly orchestrated every victory in battle, gave him good advice on how to deal with Guthram and Ubba, trained the Wessex army to be far more effective, personally killed Ubba and spearheaded the victory over Ubba's army, and so on. I mean, I know Uhtred is a bit of a prick at times, doesn't give the king the proper respect and is godless, but on the other hand he also proved his loyalty several times over and should have been given estates and honours equivalent to any baron or lord in all of Wessex.

Anyway, I'm glad Brida and Ragnar are still alive and honestly felt happy in the final battle that Uhtred went out of his way to save his brother's life. I thought they were going to have to kill each other at one point. I was also glad that Leofric's death was just a thing that happened, and wasn't a huge deal (even though I was sad because I really liked the character). I liked that Uhtred asked for his friend to have a large burial akin to a lord, and Aethelwold said he would see to it. I liked that Aethelwold started off as a little shit, but gradually become more likeable, and then actually proved his worth by fighting for Wessex in the final battle. I liked that Uhtred was not a flawless warrior in the beginning, but became more and more confident and capable over the series. I liked his sword, because it looked awesome. I liked how in the final episode it felt like Alfred was losing his faith, while Guthram was finding his (this was rather rushed, especially with the little epilogue summary where Guthram was baptised, but again hopefully this will be expanded in the next series). I liked so much of it overall - it was just superb. Already excited for the next series, and I'll be getting this on DVD at some point.
 
M

MrPhiliasfrog

Member
I just finished it yesterday on netflix and it was such a great surprise. Glad it was renewed for a second season.

I just found it weird that I never heard of this serie before it was added to netflix because it is so much better than Vikings and other "historical" TV shows.

Uhtred and Brida were great together, shame she had to go so soon. Hope she'll be back on season two.

Some scenes/episodes felt rushed for some reasons, by adding one episode or two it would have given the show more room to breathe.

Anyway, can't wait to see season two.
 
Jag

Jag

Member
MrPhiliasfrog said:
I just finished it yesterday on netflix and it was such a great surprise
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I had taped the entire run and my DVR fried before I could watch it. I assume that wasn't US Netflix because I can't find the show on US Netflix or Comcast. Anyone else know how to find it?
 
R

Ricker

Member
Awesome,saw this on Netflix(Canada) a few weeks ago and decide to try it out...loving it so far, 4 episodes in.
 
C

Cake Boss

Banned
7 episodes in, did this king Alfred just go tone deaf and stupid while ignorant to facts that he sees in front of his face? Gone from a smart thinking man to a dumbass within episodes and no way to explain it. At least say he has a sorcerer in his corner now or some shit.
 
S

Sean*O

Member
Great show, just binge watched it. Going to be a long wait to season 2 I was reading possibly not to air until 2017.
 
T

The Silver

Member
Half way in and Uhtred is becoming an unbearable idiot, pls god I hope he gets better, I feel like I'm watching a stupid shounen anime hero with an edge.
 
L

lastplayed

Member
Just finished powering through this on Netflix and really enjoyed it. Sure some of the weapons and armour looked a bit advanced, and the acting was a bit hit and miss but David Dawson really nailed it as Alfred. He was definitely the standout character. Uhtred was a bit insufferable at times, but thankfully he came around in the end.

And that guy playing Scorpa... damn he was scary lol.

Really looking forward to seeing more.
 
E

EzekelRAGE

Member
Finished it. Man, I can understand ppl not liking Uhtred. I was about fed up with him when he barged in to their ceremony, where they were praying or w/e after Ubba was defeated. Uhtred wanted his dues for his part isntead of just waiting.

Skorpa/Leofrich were my fav characters. I hope they introduce more magic type stuff.

Also, fuck Odda the younger lol. Seems like he was hatin on Uhtred since they first met. After watching him try to get Athelwold to be king, his father to abandon Uhtred, I figure maybe he will fill the "always got something up his sleeve/working angles" guy. But he was really just gonna submit/work with Skorpa lol.

Good show, looking forward to next season.
 
D

DrSlek

Member
EzekelRAGE said:
I hope they introduce more magic type stuff.
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I really don't. To me it would feel far to similar to Vikings if they went that route. One of the main reasons I enjoy this show is because of the lack of mysticism. What little is included is left up to interpretation as to whether it's legit or just coincidence.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Deadline: Netflix Joins ‘The Last Kingdom’ As Co-Producer Of Historical Epic’s Season 2
With shooting just begun on the second season of historical drama The Last Kingdom, Netflix has joined the series as co-producer and will air it next year in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Japan, Spain and Portugal. BBC America, which broadcast the first season Stateside in 2015, is no longer involved. Netflix will add S1 to the U.S. library this year. From Downton Abbey producer Carnival Films, the fantasy epic goes out in the UK on BBC Two.

Based on bestselling book series, The Saxon Stories, by Bernard Cornwell, The Last Kingdom is adapted by Stephen Butchard. The first eight-part season averaged 2.7M viewers on BBC Two and picked up a Best Drama Series nomination from the Royal Television Society.

The stories focus on Uhtred (American Horror Story‘s Alexander Dreymon), a warrior and outsider on a fierce mission to reclaim his birthright; while re-telling the history of King Alfred the Great and his desire to unite the many separate kingdoms into what would become England.

Season 2 picks up in the year 878 as the wild lands of the north have fallen into chaos and rebellion. Uhtred continues the fight for his native land of Northumbria. Having given his sword to King Alfred, despite his upbringing by the invading pagan Danes, he embarks on a voyage to reclaim his own fate and avenge Earl Ragnar’s death, recapturing his ancestral lands of Bebbanburg.

Returning cast also includes David Dawson (Peaky Blinders), Emily Cox (Homeland), Ian Hart (Boardwalk Empire) and Tobias Santelmann (Marcella). New cast includes Thure Lindhardt (The Bridge), Millie Brady (Legend) and Peter McDonald (Thirteen).
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Business

Business

Member
I don't know if Netflix involvement is good or bad news but I'm just glad we are getting a second season.

I've actually just finished the second book and started the third.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
SpeedOfNuts said:
I don't know if Netflix involvement is good or bad news but I'm just glad we are getting a second season.

I've actually just finished the second book and started the third.
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Sorta bad news that it's changed hands so late in the game, but beyond that it's good to have Netflix backing it because of their financial firepower / need for programming, plus it means they'll put it up for streaming. Seems like a very good thing overall.
 
C

captjohnboyd

Member
Cornballer said:
Sorta bad news that it's changed hands so late in the game, but beyond that it's good to have Netflix backing it because of their financial firepower / need for programming, plus it means they'll put it up for streaming. Seems like a very good thing overall.
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Oh.... just realized I skipped over BBC no longer being involved. That is a little worrying with Netflix' output sometimes (Marco Polo) bordering on the cheese. Hopefully they put out a product as unique and well executed as the first season.

I agree about the budget though. That can only help.
 
Business

Business

Member
captjohnboyd said:
Oh.... just realized I skipped over BBC no longer being involved. That is a little worrying with Netflix' output sometimes (Marco Polo) bordering on the cheese. Hopefully they put out a product as unique and well executed as the first season.

I agree about the budget though. That can only help.
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Yeah that's what I meant. The BBC did a very good job with the general tone of the series and gave it a very European feel, less picture perfect, more realistic looking and no top-models cast. I hope Netflix just puts the money and let the team continue with the excellent job they were doing.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
SpeedOfNuts said:
Yeah that's what I meant. The BBC did a very good job with the general tone of the series and gave it a very European feel, less picture perfect, more realistic looking and no top-models cast. I hope Netflix just puts the money and let the team continue with the excellent job they were doing.
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BBC is still running the show - sounds like it's just Netflix dealing with US distribution instead of BBCA.
captjohnboyd said:
I agree about the budget though. That can only help.
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I doubt the budget for S2 will change much since they're already underway, but at least Netflix is more likely to green light future seasons given how much money they're throwing around these days.
 
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