This historical fiction show on Netflix is better than any fantasy series

Ever since Game of Thrones became a pop culture phenomenon in the 2010s, studios have tried to make their own high fantasy epics. By and large, this hasn’t gone well. It’s not that there aren’t any good fantasy series out there, but a lot of the highest-profile ones have slipped up.

The Witcher changed lead actors partway through to much fan dissatisfaction. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is expensive but underwhelming. And The Wheel of Time was just finding its footing when Amazon canceled it, something I will never stop being mad about.

But you don’t necessarily need a fantasy series to scratch that fantasy itch. The Last Kingdom is a Netflix show with a sweeping story and medieval setting that actually beats many of the sword-and-sorcery shows at their own game.

The Last Kingdom is dense, epic, and exciting

Fantastic but not fantastical

What did people most enjoy about a show like Game of Thrones? They liked the White Walkers and dragons, sure, but what kept them coming back week after week were the stories of characters clashing with each other in ever-escalating power struggles. And there are plenty of examples of this in our own history, no literal fantasy required. The Last Kingdom proves it beyond doubt.

The show is based on The Saxon Stories novels by Bernard Cornwell, a fantastic writer of historical fiction. It’s set in ninth- and tenth-century England, which at this point is still a loose collection of kingdoms rather than a unified country. Very roughly, The Last Kingdom tells the story of how it becomes one.

Basically, it has no choice. The kingdoms are being harried from without by Dane warriors from across the sea, people we would call Vikings today. The sickly King Alfred (David Dawson) has a plan to unite the kingdoms in the face of this threat. To that end, he’ll rely heavily on a brash warrior named Uhtred of Bebbanburg (Alexander Dreymon), who was born an English Saxon but raised by Danes. These two guys try to work together but are often at odds, which provides some of the best conflicts of the first few seasons.

Why just the first few? Well, like Game of Thrones, The Last Kingdom isn’t afraid to sometimes remove characters from the board or even upend everything, which keeps the experience fresh and exciting through the whole of the five-season run. The show covers a period of around 30-40 years, so there are a ton of changes along the way. Fans of history will love seeing how the series approaches major events in medieval England, while fans of Game of Thrones will soak up the complex drama played out between an expanding roster of fascinating characters.

Swords minus the sorcery

The Last Kingdom still feels magical without having any literal magic

Again, nothing in The Last Kingdom is literally fantastical; no one uses actual magic. However, this was a time of intense superstition when pagan religions were battling it out with Christianity, the hot new faith of the day. So even though magic isn’t real, a lot of people believed in the supernatural to such an extent that priests and priestesses might as well have been actual wizards, since people responded as though they really did have powers. That’s one of the ways The Last Kingdom feels like a fantasy show while still grounding itself in reality.

Another is the environment. There may not be any dragons around, but everyone rides horses, uses swords, and lives in castles. All the usual fantasy trappings are there. And The Last Kingdom serves up some pretty spectacular medieval battle scenes, with soldiers shoulder to shoulder as they try to block the oncoming wave of enemies with their shield walls. We get sword fights, horse chases, and dramatic scenes set in drafty stone rooms while lords and ladies look down from their high tables; it’s everything a fantasy fan likes without technically being fantasy.

The emotions are also classic fantasy material. Uhtred is displaced from his ancestral home of Bebbanburg very early in the series and spends pretty much the rest of the show (which means the rest of his life) trying to get it back. He fights for honor and legacy, but over the course of the show — as his quest begins to cost the lives of some of the friends he’s made along the way — he matures and starts to reconsider what really matters in life. His story gives the show a solid spine. We take plenty of detours along the way, but we always come back to Uhtred.

A couple of cons for the road

The amazing ageless Uhtred

There are a few drawbacks to The Last Kingdom you should know about going in. One small absurdity is that despite the show taking place over a number of decades, Uhtred himself barely looks like he ages in 40 years. Maybe they figured it would be too expensive to dress Alexander Dreymon in thicker layers of age makeup every season. You just have to get used to the idea that whenever he’s not onscreen, Uhtred is perfecting the best skincare regime anyone has ever developed, then or now.

The show can also feel a tad repetitive as it goes on; we ask ourselves how many times Uhtred can save England without getting proper credit in the history books. But just as that starts to wear on us, the show serves up some new twist, and we’re back on board. And when it ends after five seasons and a movie, it leaves us wanting more.

The best fantasy series on Netflix right now isn’t the one everyone’s watching

Netflix has taken a lot of swings at making a great fantasy TV show. The Sandman is the closest the streamer has come to a home run.

The Last Kingdom: History is magic

Sometimes, it feels like Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings are stories about medieval conflicts that layer fantasy elements on top; if you strip away those elements, most of what makes those stories compelling is still there. The Last Kingdom has all the drama and action a fantasy fan could want, and after a while, the fact that there’s no actual fantasy doesn’t feel like it matters anymore.

That said, we’re always looking for great new high fantasy epics to enjoy. Personally, I think Hollywood needs to turn to some of the great unadapted fantasy book series for inspiration. But until then, shows like The Last Kingdom do a great job filling the gap.