The Last Kingdom Season 5: Release date, how to watch and what to expect

Pocket-lint

By Chris Hall

Updated Mar 9, 2022

Uhtred is back for the last season of The Last Kingdom.

Netflix

The Last Kingdom is based on Bernard Cornwell's The Saxon Stories series of books. The title of the TV series comes from the first novel, with the TV series following the action through a number of the books.

The action is based around the adventures of Uhtred of Bebbanburg (Alexander Dreymon), and follows the story through Anglo-Saxon Britain with the invasion of the Vikings and the ambitions of the Kingdom of Wessex to unite the kingdoms to form England as a unified nation.

Swords, betrayal, battles, romance, the clash of cultures between pagans and Christians, all define The Last Kingdom as it takes a semi-historical romp through British history.

The Last Kingdom Season 5 release date

The Last Kingdom Season 5 hit Netflix on 9 March 2022.

The previous season aired on 26 April 2020, so there's been a considerable gap between Season 4 and Season 5, although a 2 year gap between seasons has been the pattern through the history of the show.

How to watch The Last Kingdom

The Last Kingdom was originally shown on BBC America and BBC 2 in the UK before it moved to a new home on Netflix.

All seasons of The Last Kingdom can be found on Netflix. There are eight episodes in the first two seasons, expanding to 10 episodes for Seasons 3, 4 and 5. All episodes are available now.

All four past seasons are also available to buy through Amazon Prime Video and other platforms, as well as being released on DVD and Blu-ray.

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What is the best streaming device for your TV? Our top recommendation is the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max. Also excellent are the Google Chromecast with Google TV, the Roku Express 4K, the Apple TV 4K and the Amazon Fire TV Stick.

What happens in The Last Kingdom Season 5?

Season 5 is set some time after the conclusion of Season 4 and sees King Edward trying to fulfil his father's ambitions of uniting the kingdoms to create England. Uhtred is acting as protector of Aethelstan, the future King of England, while enemies gather to subvert the line of succession, fracture the delicate peace of the fledgling England and tip the balance of power once again.

It will star Emily Cox (Brida), Eliza Butterworth (Aelswith), Mark Rowley (Finan), Arnas Fedaravicius (Sihtric), Adrian Schiller (Aethelhelm), Cavan Clerkin (Pyrlig), Millie Brady (Aethelflaed), Timothy Innes (King Edward), Ewan Mitchell (Osferth) and James Northcote (Aldhelm).

Will there be a The Last Kingdom Season 6?

No, it has been confirmed that Season 5 is the concluding season for The Last Kingdom.

There will, however, be a feature length movie that follows on from Season 5 of The Last Kingdom. This will be called Seven Kings Must Die and it is currently filming.

The plot of Seven Kings Must Die is currently unrevealed, but seeing as Season 5 concludes at the end of book 10, it's not much of a stretch to deduce that it will span the final three books in the series.

Which books is The Last Kingdom based on?

The Last Kingdom is the title of the first book in The Saxon Stories series. There are 13 books in total, running from The Last Kingdom through to War Lord. War Lord (published in 2020) is the final book of the series and closes out Uhtred's story.

We can align The Last Kingdom TV series with the following books:

Season 1 - The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman
Season 2 - The Lords of the North, Sword Song
Season 3 - The Burning Land, Death of Kings
Season 4 - The Pagan Lord, The Empty Throne
Season 5 - Warriors of the Storm, The Flame Bearer
Seven Kings Must Die - War of the Wolf, Sword of Kings, War Lord (unconfirmed, but likely)

There are obviously changes to some of the plot lines through the TV series, but the main storyline is defined to an extent by history, adapted with poetic licence.