For Fans of The Last Kingdom

Showrunner Stephen Butchard had unusually strong source material to work from. Cornwell spent 30 years writing Uhtred before the first episode aired, and the novels give the character a consistency of voice and motivation that most original TV dramas can only aspire to. The adaptation is faithful where it matters: the siege of Benfleet, Alfred's illness, the contested Northumbrian succession. Where it compresses or invents, it does so with a clear understanding of what the books are actually about. Fans who loved the show and have not read the novels are leaving the better half of the experience on the table.

Ubisoft set Valhalla in exactly the era The Last Kingdom covers: the late 9th century, the Viking settlements in England, the Saxon kingdoms resisting and negotiating. The political landscape Eivor navigates, forging alliances with Anglo-Saxon lords, mirrors what Uhtred does across five seasons. The game is sprawling and sometimes unfocused, but for fans who want to walk the same ground, cross the same rivers, and fight the same kinds of battles, it is the closest gaming equivalent. The Siege of Paris DLC adds another theatre that fans of the show's raid sequences will appreciate.

Robert Eggers built The Northman on the same Norse mythology and Scandinavian culture that The Last Kingdom draws from, but where Uhtred's story is political and grounded, Eggers goes mythic and ritualistic. The film is brutal in ways the show never attempts. What they share is a commitment to authenticity of material culture, language, and violence. The two works complement rather than repeat each other. Watch The Last Kingdom for the geopolitics; watch The Northman for the nightmare.

Creative Assembly narrowed the Total War series to the exact historical moment The Last Kingdom covers: 878 AD, Alfred's victory at Edington, the fragmented kingdoms of Britain. Players can lead the Danes of East Anglia, the Norse-Irish, the Welsh kingdoms, or the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The strategic logic of the show, that no kingdom can hold without allies and every alliance has a price, maps almost perfectly onto the game's mechanics. It is the most directly thematically matched game to the series that exists.