Anyone going to watch this? The series premiere is tonight at 10 PM EDT on BBC America, after Doctor Who. It looks to be an interesting show, similar to The Vikings on History Channel. This show is about the Birth of England, when the King of Wessex (The last great Kingdom) unites all the separate kingdoms to fend off the invading/conquering Danish Vikings in the 9th century.. The show has an international cast from 11 different countries, including Rutger Hauer. The show is said to combine both real historical figures and events with some fiction thrown in (probably for dramatic effect.) The show is adapted from the series of books "The Saxon Stories". I'm going to definitely check this out. If you enjoy The Vikings on History Channel, you might want to watch this. http://www.bbcamerica.com/the-last-kingdom/about-the-show/
Three weeks in and this show is very good. I am enjoying it very much. Don't know yet if I like it as much as the show Vikings on History Channel, but it is an interesting story and take on the history of the formation of England and their struggle to fend off the Vikings. So far, I like the actor who plays Utrid (the main star) and the actor who plays King Alfred.
I enjoyed the first episode, though the young protagonist emerging from the water like a fashion model was a little off-putting.
As I've said it's thread, IMO TLK's doing a far better job with similar components than The Bastard Executioner!
I just finished the series & I liked it a lot, especially the second half of the season. It kind of reminded me of the first season of Spartacus. It took me a few episodes to get hooked but when I did, I couldn't stop watching it.
Yep. I hope BBC keeps this show going for new seasons. Really enjoyed it and I too thought it got really good towards the end. This show was much, much better than the cancelled The Bastard Executioner. Jury is still out if I like this show better than Vikings or not.
The finale definitely felt like a series finale, they probably didn't (don't?) know if the series was going to be renewed.
I was reading that a second season, as intimated above, is in the works: The Last Kingdom (TV series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia » How are U.S. viewers watching this? It is not possible to stream BBC content over the Internet, or so I have read somewhere at some time. Being a GoT fan, I would like to check this out too.
It looks like a couple of posters above enjoyed this. Has anyone tried it since this thread was last updated? This is a heads up -- the first season is streaming on Netflix, starting today. Yes, Netflix rolls out their monthly additions throughout the month, with some items coming later than the beginning of the month. I am definitely going to check it out.
I thought Season 1 was pretty solid. I am a huge Bernard Cornwell fan and while his Last Kingdom series of books isn't my favorite it's still pretty good. In my opinion Bernard Cornwell is one of the best writers of historically accurate fiction of the past 30 years and he has a great talent for mixing historical and fictional characters.
This week I streamed and watched the first four episodes of season 1 of The Last Kingdom. I was concerned that it would either bore me, or that it would be just a Game of Thrones "lite." I can safely conclude that this series is excellent. It clearly has its own vision (of course, since it is based on Cornwell's series), but I didn't feel like it departed from this vision, by resorting to borrowing or recycling from other ancient series or movies. The settings are lush and beautiful, the sets realistic, and the costumes and background activity are superb. I was esp. worried about the characters and their character development, but no problems here. The basic plot is simple: the British isles are under siege by foreign invaders, in this case the Danes. Except for one major bonehead plot artifice in episode 4, it seem to cohere to reasonable expectations, and I have been looking forward to tuning in on the next episode. Contrast this with season five of Hell on Wheels, which I started but it has worn out its welcome and is a burden to finish (I might not). I did try the Vikings briefly before this, but could hardly stand it. The Last Kingdom is a fine series. Sword enthusiasts should tune in -- they have an "open carry" policy in the British isles.
This is a very good series. I'm enjoying watching it on Netflix. It's better than "Vikings" and I like that series a lot. The protagonist, Uhtred, reminds me a bit of Jon Snow from GoT.
I finished streaming and watching all of season 1 (8 episodes) on Netflix. Though earlier I had a positive view, I no longer hold that. The plot seemed to get more and more preposterous as it went on. It became a chore to watch toward the end of season 1 (episodes 5-8 or thereabouts). I will not be tuning in for season 2. Promising start degenerated into soap opera.
