Netflix has boarded BBC drama “The Last Kingdom” as a co-producer for the second season as filming starts in Budapest, Hungary. The new season will premiere next year on BBC Two in the U.K. and on Netflix in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Japan, Spain and Portugal. The show is produced by Carnival Films, best known for “Downton Abbey.”
The first season was a hit with viewers during its eight-week run on BBC Two in 2015, averaging 2.7 million total viewers. The show was nominated for best drama series at the Royal Television Society Awards.
Set in the year 878, the second season returns “as fearless and instinctive warrior Uhtred continues his fight for his native land of Northumbria,” Carnival Films said in a statement. “Uhtred, having given his sword to King Alfred, despite his upbringing by the invading pagan Danes, embarks on his voyage north to reclaim his own fate: to avenge Earl Ragnar’s death and recapture his ancestral lands of Bebbanburg.”
Alexander Dreymon (“American Horror Story”) returns as Uhtred, alongside David Dawson(“Peaky Blinders”), Emily Cox (“Homeland”), Ian Hart (“Boardwalk Empire”) and Tobias Santelmann (“Marcella”) from the first season. They are joined by new cast members including Thure Lindhardt (“The Bridge”), Millie Brady (“Legend”), and Peter McDonald (“Thirteen”).
Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant return as executive producers for Carnival Films alongside screenwriter Stephen Butchard, who adapted Bernard Cornwell’s novels. Elizabeth Kilgarriff is the executive producer for the BBC, and Dominic Barlow will produce this season.
Should be a big boost to the show.