From ICv2 Newsletter

quote:

Upper Deck has inked an agreement to produce The Last Kingdom collectibles and games.

The Last Kingdom is a streaming series, produced by Carnival Films (an NBC Universal company) and shown on Netflix, that is based on The Saxon Stories book series by Bernard Cornwell (see "'The Last Kingdom'"). Upper Deck, in collaboration with NBCUniversal, will launch a trading card set and a card game based on this IP later in 2026.

"The Last Kingdom is widely acclaimed and has fans around the world, so being able to release both a trading card set and a game will allow fans, collectors, and gamers to further enjoy the series," said Travis Rhea, Upper Deck Director of Entertainment Brands.

The Last Kingdom: Destiny is All will be a new two-player card game where players take charge of the Saxon or Great Heathen Armies, and battle for control of the four kingdoms of Britain. They will take turns recruiting characters from the series and use them to capture and control territory. The player with the most territory wins the game.

The Last Kingdom trading card set features fan favorite characters from the series. It includes silver and gold parallels that are numbered as low as ten as well as map relic cards, autographed cards, and more.

Good Grief, where did this one come from? Its got something like 5 series over 7 years and I never heard about it. Of course, I wouldn't know the books because historical fiction about old England is not my go-to literature, but I didn't know Game of Thrones until the series appeared either. Then no one could miss it. Has no one been promoting "The Last Kingdom" outside of home?

I googled the show and, apart from a handful of actors who had small roles in GoT, I don't know anybody big in the cast. Happy to hear about a new title and maybe there will be a push on this show, but there must be a reason why UD landed it and not RA. Putting out a trading card set and a CCG on the same new title seems like a big gamble and I'm more than a little surprised. Curious to see how well it sells over here.

I watched the first 2 seasons on BBC but then it went to netflix so didn't see anymore

Re Last Kingdom I had read the books before it was advertised as being on TV and I was eagerly awaiting it to be broadcast. When it arrived I saw the first 10-15 minutes and hated it. As for GoT I had never heard of either in book or TV form until in became all the rage however I have never been interested so I have not seen it. Last year Netflix became available via Sky so I have caught up with some programmes I knew I had missed and more recently I have started to watch the Harlan Coben output which have had some very good twists at the end.

I read all the books first, as I read most of Cornwell's stuff since the Sharpe days in the 90s, but the TV series suffered from squashing too many books into one season to begin with and the lead actor employing a strange accent delivery. Yes, he's German, but his usual speaking voice is better than the choice for Uhtred.
However, this series is better than the more commercially lauded Vikings series, as it's much more accurate to the history at the time of King Alfred and the rise of the Danelaw(the part of eastern England that was ruled by the Vikings for a while and still shows in some of our place names even today). AND we actually get a decent representation of Aethelflaed, Lady of Mercia.
In the historical fantasy circles you will hear this show talked about a lot, and from people all over the world including the US.
So, that's the historian part of me salivating. But the TV series also introduced me to the wonderful singer Eivor, who co-produced and performed the soundtrack. She's a singing/writing wonder from the Faroes Islands that has one of the best singing ranges you'll find. (Try looking at her song 'Falling Free' sung live at Torshavn).

All that said, what a WEIRD time to produce a card set, and even stranger that it's UD and not RA.
It's one of those shows with a lot of unknown actors, but several little interesting cameos, such as Matthew Macfadyen. Netflix didn't do too badly with the series until the utterly pointless movie they used to tie up the series at the end. It wasn't needed and was as underwhelming as the Peaky Blinders recent movie... again Netflix being their usual useless selves.

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Originally posted by Hedgehog Witch:
All that said, what a WEIRD time to produce a card set, and even stranger that it's UD and not RA.
It's one of those shows with a lot of unknown actors, but several little interesting cameos, such as Matthew Macfadyen. Netflix didn't do too badly with the series until the utterly pointless movie they used to tie up the series at the end.

According to my Goggle search "The Last Kingdom" show is finished, and it will in fact start to leave the Netflix library in stages later this year. Weird timing for cards is right, but perhaps the BBC money crunch had something to do with it.

The only thing I can think of is that the license may have been offered cheap and UD didn't have any better options for new products.

RA may have decided another BBC show wasn't worth it to them. After all, they still have "Doctor Who" stuck at Series 5 - 7 from 2024 and I see no mention of the next release. With that show in production troubles, who knows what RA intends to do, but I'll bet they still have some autograph cards in the vault, assuming they still have a license to sell them.

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Originally posted by Raven:

The only thing I can think of is that the license may have been offered cheap and UD didn't have any better options for new products.

I think that could indeed be a factor as UD don't seem to have much in their stable right now.
I'm not sure who owned Last Kingdom, though. The BBC did the first 2 seasons and then Netflix took over and did 3 seasons more plus that mediocre movie. So whether the Beeb had any ownership after 2, I don't know.