The 2020 Emmy Awards have come and gone, and The Last Kingdom again didn’t even have a nomination. Here’s why it should’ve:
The 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards have come and gone, and while we might take issue with a winner or two, we’re more upset about why some shows weren’t even nominated.
To get specific, where’s the love for The Last Kingdom, Netflix’s excellent medieval drama? This show, as good as it is, didn’t have a single nomination, not even in technical categories like Sound Editing or Stunts or Costume Design. I’m here to argue that The Last Kingdom should have been nominated in these categories and more.
SPOILERS follow below.
Based on Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories novels, The Last Kingdom has been consistently good for four seasons now. I won’t argue which shows The Last Kingdom should have been nominated over, but given its medieval setting, Costume Design seems like an obvious omission. Likewise, with some outstanding battle scenes like season 4’s Battle of Tettenhall, or even season 1’s Battle of Edington, not nominating it for things like Cinematography and Stunts stands out.
And that’s all before you get to the performers. There, the lack of nominations is even more glaring. From leading man Alexander Dreymon (Uhtred) to departed stars like David Dawson (King Alfred) and Ian Hart (Father Beocca), there are lots of performances on this show worthy of recognition. The Last Kingdom is more than a simple sword-swinging brute of a show; there are complex relationships colored by religion, medieval gender norms and much more.
The evolution of these friendships, rivalries and romances speaks not just to the quality of the performances but also of the writing, which effortlessly adapts two of Cornwell’s novels each season. Despite bringing two novels worth of material to each season, the show maintains a wonderful pacing thanks to deft writing. This comes together to give us relationships like the one between Uhtred and Hild (Eva Birthistle), a nun turned warrior who helps Uhtred recover from his time aboard a slave ship in the second season.
Uhtred’s relationship with King Alfred is also fraught, and produced more than its fair share of excellent scenes. Uhtred’s reaction to Father Beocca’s death in season 4 was also a standout.
Again, I’m not lobbying for The Last Kingdom over any other show in particular; it just seems odd that over its four-year run it’s never been nominated. Perhaps the onus is on Netflix to not only put the show forward for consideration but raise awareness of it. Perhaps Emmy voters have simply overlooked the show in favor of something buzzier; there’s certainly no shortage of good TV on right now.
Still, if Netflix ever wants to beat out HBO for wins (HBO got things 30 this year, Netflix 21), pushing The Last Kingdom could really help its case. There are lots of great shows out there, and the The Last Kingdom deserves to be included in the conversation.
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