The Last Kingdom is an excellent historical drama that ran for five seasons between 2015 and 2022. Set in the country that would become England in the ninth and tenth centuries, it follows Uhtred of Bebbanburg (Alexander Dreymon), the dispossessed son of an English lord who grows up among Dane raiders. That puts him in a unique position to understand people on both sides of the long-running, violent conflict between native Saxons and Dane invaders. We watch him as he tries to reclaim his home and in the process becomes an unsung hero of history.
The Last Kingdom has a fervent fanbase and has long been branded as a Netflix original, so it may surprise fans to learn that it may well leave the service later in 2026.
How can The Last Kingdom leave Netflix?
The show is only partially a Netflix original
In fact, The Last Kingdom has already left Netflix in several territories. If you try to watch it on Netflix in Canada on the United Kingdom, you’ll find you’re out of luck. According to What’s On Netflix, all five seasons are due to leave Netflix for subscribers in the United States on December 9, 2026.
You might wonder why a show branded as a Netflix original would ever leave Netflix. Doesn’t Netflix own the property? Why would they willingly let it go when people still watch it? Although the numbers aren’t as big as when the episodes first dropped, The Last Kingdom has been watched for hundreds of millions of hours since Season 5 dropped in 2022.
The answer has to do with the show’s beginnings. At the start, Netflix wasn’t involved with The Last Kingdom. The first season was produced by the BBC and aired on BBC Two. Netflix became a co-producer for Season 2 and then took over as financier and sole distributor starting in Season 3. But because the show did not originate in house, Netflix has always had to license The Last Kingdom, and those license agreements have expiration dates.
So although it’s easy to forget this given how long The Last Kingdom has been associated with Netflix, it wasn’t originally a Netflix original, and that fact is catching up to it.
What will happen to The Last Kingdom after it leaves Netflix?
What other streaming service will you have to get?
The Last Kingdom was produced by Carnival Films, which will have have the rights again once the show leaves Netflix completely. After that, Carnival could conceivably do whatever it wants with them, although some options are more reasonable than others. Carnival is a part of NBCUniversal International Studios, which is owned by NBCUniversal, which operates the streaming service Peacock, so perhaps The Last Kingdom will end up there.
That would be a shame, because Peacock isn’t as widely used as Netflix, and The Last Kingdom is a good show that deserves as many eyes on it as possible. Carnival could also license the show to other streamers like Prime Video or BritBox. In the U.K., it’s possible the rights could return to the BBC or iPlayer, but it’s too early to know anything for sure.
Netflix could also take action to keep The Last Kingdom available, which would probably be the best outcome. Wherever it started, The Last Kingdom now feels like a Netflix show, and seeing it anywhere would feel odd. But Netflix has already let the show be taken down in select territories, so it’s hard to know what it’s thinking. Because such a huge number of Netflix subscribers live in the United States, views from that country have greater weight than views from other areas of the world. If Netflix lets The Last Kingdom become unavailable for U.S. subscribers come December, that may be the point of no return.
The Last Kingdom movie is safe (for now)
For what it’s worth
The Last Kingdom wrapped up with a movie called Seven Kings Must Die, which landed on Netflix in April 2023. Netflix secured a 10-year licensing deal for Seven Kings Must Die in all regions, so it’s safe on the service until at least April 2033.
That said, that may be cold comfort for fans, since Seven Kings Must Die is generally seen as a step down from the series that preceded it. The Last Kingdom is based on the Saxon Stories novels by author Bernard Cornwell; each season adapted roughly two of Cornwell’s books. Seven Kings Must Die, however, shoved the final three books into a much smaller space, and generally isn’t as tight. So although Netflix has secured it for the foreseeable future, it’s arguably the worst part of the series.
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Watch ’em while you can
The Last Kingdom isn’t the only “Netflix Original” in danger of leaving the service. For instance, the Gilmore Girls follow-up limited series A Year in the Life is also on the chopping block this year, in November. There may be more shows than you think that are in danger of vacating the service, so watch your favorites while you can, or at least do a little probing that your favorite is actually a true Netflix original and not just a licensed show being passed off as one.
- Release Date
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2015 – 2022-00-00
- Network
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BBC
- Showrunner
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Stephen Butchard
- Directors
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Alexander Dreymon
- Writers
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Martha Hiller, Stephen Butchard
