The Last Kingdom: Uhtred star opens up on directorial debut ‘Thrown in deep end’

The Last Kingdom season 5 trailer from Netflix

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Alexander Dreymon is well known for his portrayal as Uthred of Bebbanburg on Netflix’s historical series, The Last Kingdom. Ahead of the release of the highly acclaimed show’s fifth season, Dreymon opened up about making his directorial debut.

The fifth and final season of The Last Kingdom landed on Netflix last week and has taken the streaming platform by a storm.

After a nearly two year hiatus, the show returned with a number of new characters as well as the beloved familiar faces.

Making a highly anticipated return was Uthred of Bebbanburg (played by Alexander Dreymon) whose storyline was officially wrapping up as the main character.

Ahead of the show’s return, the actor opened up about making his directorial debut on the instalment’s second episode.

The actor disclosed: “First of all, I’m just hugely grateful to Carnival for giving me that opportunity and for placing their trust in me.

“It’s a huge production with a lot of moving parts, very technical aspects and I spent as much time in front of the camera as I did behind the camera, so I was definitely thrown in at the deep end but I’m completely in love with it.

“I’m just so grateful to have been able to do it, there’s just no way of knowing the breadth of the director’s responsibilities and what it means to carry the weight of that unless you do it and I thought I knew, but I really had no idea.

“It gave me even more honour and respect for that part of our world. It made me want to help the directors that I’m working with even more than before.”

Dreymon continued: “To get them to be able to do their job because they have so much to take care of.

“I think in the future in any way that I can take weight off of their shoulders in a productive way, in my role as an actor, I’ll endeavour to do,” he concluded.

The Last Kingdom was the onscreen adaptation of the historical novel series titled The Saxon Stories written by Bernard Cornwell.

Throughout the series, Uhtred was faced with a number of twists which took him further from his destiny and Wessex throne.

The second episode which Dreymon directed unveiled one of the biggest revelations of the season, Aethelflaed’s secret.

Uhtred discovered she was facing death, after learning she had a condition known as the canker which was too advanced to cure.

Speaking on Dreymon’s directorial debut Mark Rowley who played Finan shared: “Working with Alex as a director was just phenomenal, it really was something great.

“He would give fantastic notes, he knows all the characters so well that he can give really accurate and subtle notes as well.

“So, when you’re working with him, he’ll give you something and it’ll bring a different energy shift into the scene.

“He would sometimes be doing a scene with you, and he would be thinking as the actor and the director at the same time and he would have the monitor there, and he’s looking at the shot as well.”

Rowley added: “Honestly, I think he’s some sort of robot, he is a superhuman and a fantastic guy.”

Although the series has ended, thankfully, for fans they will soon be able to see more of their favourite characters as The Last Kingdom will return for the upcoming sequel film, Seven Kings Must Die which is expected to land on Netflix in 2023.

The Last Kingdom is available on Netflix.

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