Netflix's 46-Episode Viking Series Was So Good, They Brought It Back For A Movie

Published Sep 3, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. While Vikings is arguably the most famous historical drama to come out of the 2010s, Netflix’s alternative to the classic series managed to spawn a spinoff movie thanks to its consistent popularity. Few shows have had a bigger impact on pop culture at large, and the TV industry more specifically, than Game of Thrones. HBO’s adaptation of author George RR. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire saga was an expensive risk when the show debuted in 2011, but it was one that soon paid off handsomely. By the time the show’s finale aired in 2019, Game of Thrones was the biggest series on TV. Its unapologetically mature tone and frequent violence, nudity, and sweating proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that R-rated fantasy shows could be big business for cable networks and streaming services, and it was not long before everything from Netflix’s The Witcher franchise to Starz’ Outlander to Prime Video’s Critical Role shows The Mighty Nein and The Legend of Vox Machina were riffing on this winning formula. However, as popular as R-rated fantasy shows were in the wake of the HBO hit’s historic success, this wasn’t the only genre that received a boost thanks to Game of Thrones. Ambitious sci-fi shows were also green lit after Game of Thrones proved that genre wasn’t necessarily a hurdle for mainstream viewers to overcome, while historical dramas that featured the bloodshed and political intrigue of Game of Thrones proved equally popular. While Vikings was likely the most well-known, Netflix’s The Last Kingdom was arguably a more cohesive franchise thanks to its movie spinoff conclusion in 2023. The Last Kingdom's Movie Gave The Series A Proper Ending Image courtesy of Everett Collection Based on author Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories series of novels, Netflix’s The Last Kingdom was a BBC co-production whose story was set in the late 800s. As Vikings and Anglo-Saxons fought for control of what would later become known as the United Kingdom, this immersive, action-packed historical drama followed both the battles and the court power plays that defined the history of the region. The plot of The Last Kingdom incorporated real-life historical figures like Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who acted as the show’s conflicted antihero with complex, divided loyalties. Uhtred’s journey to power and his years of political maneuvering defined the story of the series, with the Netflix show’s first outing adapting Cornwell's books The Saxon Stories, The Last Kingdom, and The Pale Horseman. Around the same time, the History Channel’s Vikings was as popular with viewers as this Netflix series, and the two shows inevitably earned comparisons thanks to their conflicted warrior heroes, their specific historic time periods and settings, their shared gritty, violent tone, and their complex political machinations. However, the massive time jumps and generational sprawl of Vikings made for a stark contrast with the focused storyline of The Last Kingdom, which centered on Uhtred’s character arc right up until 2023’s movie spinoff The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die. Which Is Better: The Last Kingdom Or Vikings? Where Vikings was heavily stylized, incorporating elements of Norse mythology without even becoming as outright fantastical and supernatural as director Robert Eggers’ later epic The Northman, The Last Kingdom was more rooted in reality. The show’s focus on a single protagonist gave the series a more orderly story, with less immersive spectacle than its History Channel competitor but more personal stakes. Ultimately, the question of which show was better depended on what viewers wanted from their epic Norse historical dramas. However, for Game of Thrones fans who were more interested in the political deceit and brutal battles of the series than its fantasy elements and its expansive storytelling style, there is no denying that Netflix’s The Last Kingdom was a tighter, less mythic take on the era than the otherwise comparable Vikings. Release Date 2015 - 2022-00-00 Network BBC Showrunner Stephen Butchard Directors Alexander Dreymon Writers Martha Hiller, Stephen Butchard