The Last Kingdom season 5 ending explained and recap

Seven Kings Must Die is now on Netflix! The Last Kingdom movie premiered on Friday, April 14, 2023. To make sure you remember everything you need to know before watching the movie, we share all the big things that happened in the final season of the Netflix original series.

The original story was published on March 12, 2022. We updated the story for the premiere of Seven Kings Must Die on April 14, 2023.

Spoilers for The Last Kingdom season 5 below!

The Last Kingdom season 5 recap and ending

We waited almost two years for The Last Kingdom season 5, and it didn’t disappoint. Here’s a look at how the series finale ended.

A lot happened throughout the final season of The Last Kingdom. After all, there were a lot of storylines to tie up before the end. It was never going to be an easy job, but it was a challenge the show’s writers stepped up to. This was nothing like the show that shall not be named. This was a show everyone involved in could be proud of from start to finish.

We have to remember there is a movie coming. The series doesn’t actually need it, but we’re not complaining that it’s happening. That is as long as it doesn’t undo all the great work that went into this final season.

It’s time to break down how it all ended. Who died? Did Uhtred get Bebbenburg back? What happened to Brida? Here are all the answers you need.

Aethelflaed and Osferth didn’t make it to the end

We start with something that happened in the first half of the season. Eadith turned up to treat Aethelflaed’s illness. Sadly, it turned out that it was too late. By episode 4, we said goodbye to the Queen of Mercia.

Knowing she was dying, she managed to set things up for her daughter’s succession as queen. However, all the eldermen were killed under King Edward’s orders. He decided it was time to take over as King of Mercia as well as King of Wessex. It was time to unite the whole of England.

Now he needed Northumbria, but Sigtryggr wasn’t going to just hand that kingdom over. Edward wasn’t going to start a war, though. So, his father-in-law, Aethelhelm decided to do that by arranging for the deaths of Christians heading north and making it look like Danes. What he didn’t know was that his daughter was traveling with these Christians and pretended to be the Visionary. With the Visionary spared to say what had happened, Haesten was able to get the message to Uhtred.

Aethelhelm’s men also headed to Uhtred’s village to blame the Danes, saying that those who had killed the Christians were hiding out there. Uhtred and Sihtric were away at the time, but Finan and Osferth were there to fight. In the fight, Osferth was killed, dying in Finan’s arms. Anyone else completely broken by how broken Finan was?

Eventually, Uhtred and his men were able to figure out what was really going on. They headed to Edward to get him to not attack Sigtryggr, but they needed to get to Sigtryggr before he attacked the Christians believing them to be the problem.