Summary
- The Last Kingdom season 5 is the least historically accurate due to many fictional characters and changes to history.
- The sequel film, Seven Kings Must Die, also struggles with historical accuracy, altering timelines and events.
- Season 1 of The Last Kingdom is the most historically accurate, depicting crucial events with lower budget costumes.
The Last Kingdom follows the unification of England in the 9th and 10th centuries, making it interesting to rank each season of the show based on overall historical accuracy. The Last Kingdom is based on Bernard Cornwell's best-selling Saxon Stories novel series, following the fictional protagonist, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. The Last Kingdom's cast and writers help construct layered characters that have helped make the show one of Netflix's most popular series.
By the end of The Last Kingdom season 5, the show has depicted a number of critical historical events, culminating in the decisive Battle of Brunanburh in the show's sequel film, The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die. Between The Last Kingdom and its movie, the franchise covers several crucial decades of English history, but its depiction of events and portrayal of medieval life varies from season to season. This makes it possible to rank every season of The Last Kingdom and its movie based on their overall historical accuracy.
The Last Kingdom: Every Character Based On Real Life Figures
The Last Kingdom is full of fascinating characters, and a fair amount of them are based on real historical figures from medieval England and beyond.
6 The Last Kingdom Season 5 (2022)
Adapts Warriors Of The Storm & The Flame Bearer
The Last Kingdom season 5's historical accuracy is the lowest of any season in the show. The main problem with this season is that the story has expanded to include so many fictional or semi-fictional characters that it's difficult to craft a story without making significant changes to history. Arguably, the ultimate goal of The Last Kingdom season 5 is to reunite Uhtred with his ancestral home of Bebbanburg, and since he is a fictional character, the basic premise of the season is ahistorical.
Further, other fictional characters — like Brida and Stiorra — play significant roles in season 5 as well, requiring the show to fit them into the story somehow. What's more, the characters in the show who are based on historical figures don't follow real events very closely either. The best example of this is Aethelstan, who spends The Last Kingdom season 5 being raised by Uhtred, which obviously never occurred considering Uhtred is fictional.
All five seasons of The Last Kingdom are available to stream on Netflix.
Lastly, The Last Kingdom season 5's costumes and sets are slightly more contemporary than previous seasons, making them less historically accurate. The rugged furs and wool Uhtred wore in The Last Kingdom season 1 are exchanged for fitted black leather, ornamented with various metal studs. The sets also benefit from the show's increased budget, growing substantially in size and grandeur, and while this may make the sets look more impressive, they also tend to overstate the wealth of medieval England, hurting the show's historical accuracy.
5 The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (2023)
Adapts War Of The Wolf, Sword Of Kings, & War Lord
The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die, The Last Kingdom's sequel film, also struggles to paint an accurate picture of history — at least in relation to the earlier seasons of the show. Unlike The Last Kingdom season 5, Seven Kings Must Die's main storyline is based on historical events, but the film drastically changes the timeline and dramatizes the events significantly. The film accurately depicts the unification of England under Aethelstan after his victory at the Battle of Brunanburh at the end of Seven Kings Must Die, but the build-up to this event twists history.
The film also depicts Aethelstan as being far more erratic and unhinged than historical records suggest the real king ever was.
The real Aethelstan was much older than he's depicted in the film by the time of the Battle of Brunanburh, and his campaigning in the north is what really led to the conflict, rather than a sporadic mass invasion and forced conversion as Seven Kings Must Die depicts. The film also depicts Aethelstan as being far more erratic and unhinged than historical records suggest the real king ever was. Seven Kings Must Die also repeats The Last Kingdom season 5's problem by overstating medieval wealth.
The film doesn't use any costumes or sets that look egregiously out of place, but the humble outfits and structures depicted in the earlier seasons better represent the trappings of a relatively poor medieval society. Granted, the more expensive sets and costumes look great on-screen and are probably a big reason for the show's gradual growth in popularity, but the loss of historical accuracy is a consequence of that gain.