Are Vikings: Valhalla and The Last Kingdom Connected?

One of the things that fans might have noticed in recent years is that there are now a lot of different shows and movies that are related to the Vikings. Of course, two of the most popular series involving Vikings are Vikings: Valhalla and The Last Kingdom, which both have their own stories to tell about the Vikings and the things that they did over a millennia ago. But are Vikings: Valhalla and The Last Kingdom connected?

Vikings: Valhalla and The Last Kingdom are not connected to one another. There may be loose connections between them, but that is only due to the fact that their settings are similar and that they use similar historical figures when it comes to the important characters of their stories.

The thing about The Last Kingdom is that it is a very entertaining series that has a good take on the story of the Vikings. However, this series is actually quite fictional in its take due to the fact that it was adapted from a series of books. On the other hand, Vikings: Valhalla is still pretty fictional on its part but is loosely based on historical accounts instead of a book. That said, let’s look at the connection or lack thereof between Vikings: Valhalla and The Last Kingdom.

Are Vikings: Valhalla And The Last Kingdom Connected?

When you look at different shows, movies, video games, or even anime, there are a lot of them that actually tell stories about the Vikings and the Norse gods that they worshipped centuries ago. Of course, that’s because the Vikings are some of the most legendary figures that history has to offer due to the fact that they were ferocious warriors that contributed a lot to the events that helped shape the northern part of Europe.

Of course, two of the most popular series that you can watch on Netflix both talk about the story of the Vikings. The first is Vikings: Valhalla, which is obviously about the Viking people. Meanwhile, the second is The Last Kingdom. 

Both of these shows take place more than a thousand years ago and talk about the same Viking people that often raided England all the way from Denmark and the neighboring areas. But does that mean that Vikings: Valhalla and The Last Kingdom are connected?

First off, Vikings: Valhalla is a storyline that takes place more than a hundred years after the time of Ragnar Lothbrok, who is one of the most storied Viking warriors in history and was the main character of the original Vikings series. The setting of Vikings: Valhalla is during the time when the age of the Vikings was already ending, and some of the Vikings were now looking to expand their lands instead of raiding neighboring areas.

As such, we follow the stories of Leif Eriksson, Freydis Eriksdotter, and Harald Haraldson in the story of Vikings: Valhalla. The story starts off with the war between Denmark in England in response to the Saint Brice’s Day Massacre committed by King Aethelred of England. Of course, the series also talks about the stories of Leif Eriksson’s journeys as an explorer that traveled from Greenland to reach different places all over Europe and even a portion of North America. And the series also talks about Harald’s rise as the king of Norway.

On the other hand, The Last Kingdom is a series that is based on novels called The Saxon Stories, which is a fictional series of books. The Saxon Stories follow the historically established events that took place more than a thousand years ago during the time of the Vikings. However, it focuses on the story of a fictional character named Uhtred of Bebbanburg.

Of course, during the events of The Last Kingdom, Uhtred comes across different characters that all have their historical counterparts. But the story of The Last Kingdom, while quite historically accurate, is catered to fit Uhtred’s own story. And we know that Uhtred is a fictional character that was simply added to The Saxon Stories.

There is also the fact that The Last Kingdom takes place right around the same time or after the events of Ragnar Lothbrok’s reign as the leader of the Viking people. As such, if we were to follow the timeline of events of The Last Kingdom and Vikings: Valhalla, The Last Kingdom takes place right around a hundred or more years before Vikings: Valhalla. That is why there is a connection only as far as the timeline of events is concerned.

But the thing that people need to see is that both of these series take place in different universes and are created by different people that never meant for them to be related to each other at all. Vikings: Valhalla was always meant to be the spiritual successor of the original Vikings series. On the other hand, The Last Kingdom was always going to be a standalone storyline that isn’t connected to any pre-existing series or show because of how it was adapted from a clear source material, which is the novel series.

In that regard, any connections that you may think exist between these two series are simply coincidental, as they both follow storylines that take place close to one another. On top of that, they also take place in the same place, which is the northern region of Europe, where the Vikings and the English often waged wars against each other.

Do You Need To Watch The Last Kingdom To Understand Vikings: Valhalla?

Of course, because both Vikings: Valhalla and The Last Kingdom, aren’t connected to one another, it is obvious that you don’t need to watch The Last Kingdom to understand Vikings: Valhalla. 

As said, The Last Kingdom focuses more on the story of a fictional character named Uhtred, who isn’t even someone remotely important to the events of Vikings: Valhalla due to his status as a fictional character. Meanwhile, Vikings: Valhalla paves its own storyline that focuses on the journeys of Leif, Freydis, and Harald. In that regard, there is no need to watch The Last Kingdom, even though, timeline-wise, it takes place before the setting of Vikings: Valhalla.

In fact, despite the fact that Vikings: Valhalla was meant to be the spiritual successor of the original Vikings series, you don’t even need to watch Vikings to understand Vikings: Valhalla due to the fact that they both follow characters with their own journeys and stories.

Nevertheless, for educational purposes and for you to see what happened during the time of the Viking Age before the events of Vikings: Valhalla, it might still be a good idea to watch The Last Kingdom before Vikings: Valhalla. Just make sure to take things with a grain of salt because, as mentioned, Uhtred is not a historical figure.