Excising the scene in which Uhtred seeks out ancient witch Aelfadell to hear her predictions on his future though, left The Last Kingdom without what some consider a key moment in the Saxon Stories. In the sixth book, Uhtred pretends to be Cumbraland lord Kjartan, and pays some monks to access the wise woman of Buchestanes. In her cave, she drugs him and he wakes up with his hands bound after a night of drug-fuelled ‘dreams’. In one, he was mounted by beautiful Saxon goddess of the earth Erce, and in another he was breastfed by the mother who died giving birth to him. (Both of these women are likely the wise woman herself, whom Uhtred describes as “ugliness in human guise.” It’s becoming clearer why the sequence never made it to screen.) After all the drugging and breastfeeding business, Aelfadell sees through Uhtred’s disguise and gives him the following prophecy: Typically useful stuff towards the end there. It’s suggested in Death of Kings that Aelfadell’s prophecy is mere Danish propaganda invented to serve the villainous Sigurd, but her opening prediction that “Seven kings will die” has an unmistakeable echo in the newly announced title of Netflix’s The Last Kingdom film. At October 2021’s MCM Comic Con London, actor-director Alexander Dreymon confirmed that after the TV show concludes with its fifth and final season in early 2022, there will be an “extension” in the form of a two-hour movie titled Seven Kings Must Die. The film is due to start production in Bulgaria next year, from a script by Martha Hillier, directed by Ed Bazalgette. Without giving away too many historical ‘spoilers’, Brunanburh was a decisive moment for the late King Alfred’s dream of a united England in which Edward’s successor faced a coalition of enemies. And there, according to lines recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, at Brunanburh, “Five young kings lay dead upon the battlefield, by swords sent to their final sleep; and likewise seven of Anlaf’s earls, and countless of his host.” So there’s our clue. The title Seven Kings Must Die points back to Aelfadell’s prophecy, which in turn points forwards to the conclusion of Uhtred’s story at Brunanburh, and the deaths of multiple kings. If Aelfadell is just Sigurd’s prop, does that mean her predictions are meaningless? Not necessarily. The women Uhtred loves – Yseult, Gisela – don’t tend to survive into old age (Aethelflaed may need to watch out). Alfred’s daughter proved a wiser ruler than his son Edward in season four, and neither yet rules over the united England of which their father dreamed. It could also be argued that once England is united, technically Wessex will ‘die’ as a kingdom. The Danes clearly don’t gain everything, but what of “the Saxon who will kill what he loves”? Could that be Uhtred himself, perhaps? Destiny is all! The Last Kingdom Season 5 will air in early 2022.
