The Last Kingdom star Magnus Bruun explains why Cnut conspired to kill Ragnar

The Last Kingdom is deep into filming on its fourth season, set to air sometime in early 2020. The third season of Netflix’s medieval drama is regarded by many — well, by me — as the best yet, and I only expect season 4 to improve.

One the newcomers in season 3, Magnus Bruun, was gracious enough to sit down with us and discuss his time on the show. “The cast was very warm,” he said. “I met up with Tobias Santelmann who plays Ragnar. We met up for dinner, and talked about our characters and the relationships between the two cousins, which was really nice. It was also nice that in this third season that there were a lot of Danes. Three new Danes; Bloodhair, Skade and Cnut coming in. We hang together, we film together, which is how it works with this show. And Danes, Swedish people and Norwegians understand each other, our languages are very similar, so we just spoke ‘Scandinavian’ on set in between takes.”

In addition to all the new Danes, season 3 felt larger in scope than before, with more storylines spread out over more space. “It’s such a big ensemble, that the Danes normally shoot together, and they get to go home,” Bruun explained. “And then the Saxons shoot together and they go back home. Unless we are shooting a big battle scene where everybody would be there. And then obviously Alex (Dreymon) and his gang are there all the time. Wherever they go, say they go to the Vikings in Dunholm as they did in season 3 then we have to stay there for a long period of time filming everything with Alex. We film everything that’s happening with the characters, and then Alex goes, and you go home. You follow Uhtred [laughs].”

Unfortunately, this scale meant that not everyone got to work together all the time, but everyone still had a connection. “A lot of the cast, I’ve never met,” Bruun said. “I met Eva Birthistle, who plays Hild, once at the read through in London. It was very nice to meet her, but because it’s just such a big ensemble, there are some actors you’ll work with a lot and have great relationships, and there are others you’ll just never meet, or only at wrap parties. But it’s still a big family, and it feels likes we take care of each other. When new people come onto the show every season, they are really trying to bring them in. I’ve been on shows, where it’s not like that. This show is very special. The cast and the crew, especially the Hungarian crew, it just so nice. It’s a great show to be a part of.”

Image: The Last Kingdom/Netflix

Bruun, a veteran actor of both film and television, also discussed the difference between filming a new show versus one that’s been going for a while:

"It was nice to come on to a show that has already been established, because I knew beforehand that this was working, and that this was exciting and great. I knew the characters, which made it even easier to just sort of jump in. When you’re doing a new show, a pilot or a feature you never know the outcome. You can think “Oh it’s a perfect cast, the writer, the director or whatever”, but you never know. It can go up in flames, or it can be the most brilliant thing. The smallest indie film can be the biggest hit, you never know what you have. So it was nice to know this was a great show, and they want me in it. That made me happy [laughs]."

And of course, work on a big, well-established show has its perks. “I’ve done all kinds of shows, features and all that, but this is just huge,” Bruun said. “You come to set, and they have an army waiting for you, ‘Lord Cnut this is your army.’ I haven’t had an army before you know?”

While Uhtred may have fought his opponents head on in seasons 1 and 2, the “Daneslayer” has different type of enemy on his hands with Cnut. “He’s a thinker,” Bruun said of his character. “He really is a thinker, and he plays the long game, which is something that many of the Danes do not. I kind of look at him as the first Danish politician in England, sort of making others do the hard work, ‘You go that way, and yep you kill that person and then I don’t have to.’ He’s a Machiavellian character and early on I made this saying for him ‘Why does everything have to be so boring?’ That was my take on the character, because for example when Bloodhair comes and says ‘I want to kill Uhtred, I want to have a duel with him,’ and Ragnar says no, Cnut thinks it would be a very bad thing for our campaign for those two to kill one another, but also it would be great fun to see what would happen.

"He’s sort of a joker in my book. Obviously he knows what he is doing, he knows what he wants, but also, he wants to have fun. That gave me a lot to play on, doing all kinds of scenes. So I just relax in that. And also knowing that you’re one of the best sword Danes in the land, but “have the others do it, I don’t need to.” So I just relax in that."

Politician or not, hopefully we see more of Cnut’s sword skills in season 4.

Bruun spent time working on more than Cnut’s personality. Before the cameras rolled, he worked with production to create Cnut’s unique look.

"When I joined the show, when I got the part, I was figuring out how to work with Cnut. What is he doing? What makes him tick? I had a lot of ideas, I did a lot of research, and I found a lot of different stuff I would like to incorporate into my costume. The Midgard serpent and Loki, the god of tricks, would be a nice companion to Cnut. Loki’s children in the Norse mythology, I tried to incorporate into the character’s look. So I sent a lot of pictures and colors, like green, to Molly Rowe, who is the costumer designer for seasons 3 and 4, and to Kate Benson, who was the makeup designer for season 3. All the things I sent, when you get a project they can just ignore all your ideas, but when I came around to my first meeting with Molly, and then Kate, they had printed out all my ideas, all my pictures, and said “I love your ideas.” So they tried to get some green leather for the costume, and all the animals I mentioned they added in, and they listened. It’s nice to have a solid, professional conversation with these designers, and everything wasn’t just made for me. I could be part of grooming Cnut, the Midgard serpent on my cheek, which comes down through my beard, all that stuff you make up together. I think me and Molly high-fived at least three times during our first costume meeting in Budapest, it was just perfect – and that’s not a usual thing in my book!"

So designing Cnut’s look was a creative thrill. Then came actual process of making it a reality. “But then I had to sit in makeup for two hours each day. So that’s why I’m going to be the bald Viking in the next show. Sitting in makeup one and half hours earlier than everyone else, at some point Ian Hart walks in, looks in the mirror, puts a little dirt on his face and says ‘yeah ok,’ and then puts his hat back on and walks out. I’ve been here for two hours! But it’s great, when you come out of your trailer, when I come out of my trailer, I have hair and makeup, armor and weapons, and I look like a Viking. So then I don’t have to do that much, I’m there already. That’s a gift on this show. When they are done with you, you are ready.”

Finally, let’s talk about a few of the dastardly moves Cnut makes in The Last Kingdom season 3, like conspiring with Aethelwold to kill off fan favorite character Ragnar in one of season 3’s most shocking moments. Bruun remembered some of the reactions he got. “After the show came out, after the third season came out, after Ragnar’s death, being called a weasel shit or the anagram of Cnut. But in my book, I never play the bad guy, because I have to defend myself, all my actions. I can’t just play evil, that’s not a choice, that’s just weak. You have to come up with reasons for what you do.”

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So why did Cnut engineer his cousin’s demise? It’s complicated.

"Why did I push Aethelwold to kill Ragnar? I liked Ragnar, I really did, he was my cousin, he was a good leader, but I also liked Brida. I liked her more, and she’s Ragnar’s wife, and that’s a problem, and I’m maybe falling for her. Also, I want to lead the Danish army, but I think one of my main motivations for Cnut in the assassination for Ragnar, was Brida, definitely. Cnut saw Young Ragnar mistreat Brida over and over again. Sleeping with woman after woman trying to make a son. And he knew that if Brida was by his side, he would never treat her without the respect she deserves.I also don’t think Cnut ever realized Aethelwold could kill Ragnar. That could have easily been, just him trying and then Ragnar killing him and then I don’t have to think about Aethelwold anymore. Which would be fine as well. It would be fun. But then suddenly Ragnar died and, okay Brida went into mourning and, I just had to move quickly.It’s a necessary evil. I didn’t want Ragnar to die, he was a great leader of the army, but at some point he was in the way."

We’re still not cool with it, but that does make a certain amount of sense.

In the next part of our interview, Bruun will reveal who he’s most enjoyed working with on the cast, and what we can look forward to in season 4!

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