The Last Kingdom renewed: Netflix officially greenlights season 5

Netflix has renewed The Last Kingdom for a fifth season

There’s some great news, Arselings. The Last Kingdom season 5 is officially happening!

We’d already heard that the show had quietly been renewed. It’s always good to get the official confirmation, though! We also know now that the season will have 10 episodes like its previous Netflix-only seasons.

Variety shared the exciting news, along with a reminder that it’s only been just more than a month since the fourth season dropped. It feels like a lifetime ago since we spent a whole Sunday binge-watching the season to make it clear a fifth season was necessary.

How many times has you rewatched it since? I’m sure, like me, it’s felt like a million times and you can repeat the whole season by heart.

The renewal came in the form of a video, which is Netflix’s traditional way of doing things. Like some recent ones, such as Never Have I Ever, the cast did the video from their own homes to follow social distancing and lockdown rules.

Something to note is that Netflix hasn’t said that this is the final season. Recent renewals of Dead to Me and The Kominsky Method have offered this final-season warning. Does this mean Netflix is considering more seasons? After all there are more books!

Based on books nine and 10

Speaking of the books by Bernard Cornwell, The Last Kingdom season 5 is set to cover the ninth and 10th books. The show has routinely covered two books per season, so this isn’t that surprising.

Keep in mind that the 13th book to be released later this year is set to be the last. That means there’s room for maybe two more seasons of the series at the most. I personally wouldn’t need this show to go on after the books bring it to an end. I trust Cornwell to end Uhtred’s story perfectly.

The books are titled “The Warriors of the Storm” and “The Flame Bearer,” and see Uhtred learning that Bebbenburg isn’t necessarily his destiny. The Fates also tie him to England, especially now that he’s been charged with training Aethelstan, King Edward’s first-born son.

Uhtred will need to face down his greatest enemy yet. Considering the enemies he’s faced over the years, this will have many people worried. What’s more concerning is that Uhtred will suffer his greatest loss. What’s a greater loss than losing his wife and baby son—two different seasons by the way?

With any hope, there’s going to be time to at least mention Uhtred’s fourth child (the third child born to him by Gisela). There were many annoyed that this son wasn’t even mentioned during The Last Kingdom season 4, and it certainly felt a little like bad writing. While there wasn’t time to show him, just a brief mention to know the writers remembered about him would have been enough!

What do you hope to see on The Last Kingdom season 5? Share your thoughts in the comments below.