Mark Rowley Talks The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die

The Last Battle To Come

The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die is a one-off film coming this Friday to Netflix and here’s Mark Rowley, who plays Finan, talking about it. Warning: a few spoilers ahead…

Where do we find Finan at the beginning of the film?

Uhtred and his men have managed to get Bebbanburg at last and they’re really excited. They’ve now got a sense of home, a place that they can call their own. Finan is happy where he is, getting old with his friends, and he’s got a wife. I think all of them are just laid back and happy. There’s not been any war, there’s no stress. And then things change.

How did you approach returning to play Finan again?

There’s no specific approach ‐ it’s so easy just to pick things up, especially when I’ve got the other cast members around me as well.

Tell us about the most spectacular moments?

I would say the battle, because it is incredible this time round. It’s the final battle of the show, and also of the film, and it’s spectacular. I would also recommend people look up the actual battle itself because historically it was epic. And it could have gone either way. That is the beautiful thing about it, whether England was going to be created or England was going to be broken, everything came down to this last battle. It’s fascinating, I really encourage people to read about it.

What’s the difference in scale between Seven Kings Must Die and the TV series?

The scale compared to the TV show is very different – the film itself is just bigger, with a huge sense of adventure because the story itself, historically, of how England was created, is pretty epic. We also had the time factor – we only had seven weeks to do the film, whereas we had seven months for the series. With the TV series there’s a gradual build‐up of energy whereas this time we were in fifth gear straight away.

Can you tell us about being on set?

It’s amazing, the place was like a theme park. We got to turn up to a theme park every day and play with pretend swords which is absolutely ridiculous when you think about it. I feel as if we have the easiest job ‐ we turn up on set and everything is completely done, whereas the set designers for example, they are planning and building things for months.

What does The Last Kingdom mean to you?

Best friends. I’ve got some of the best friends from the show, which is very interesting because I feel as if people walk away from certain projects and they say, ‘Oh, we’ll be in touch’ and it never really happens, but with this show it’s different. Everyone cares about each other. We’ve been through so much together, the good and the bad. We’ve all been on a journey, on and off set. The show has brought other people together too, fans who are now friends, who went to events or met up. That’s something really magical that this show has ended up doing. I think that’s really special.

How was it working with The Last Kingdom family for one last time?

We’ve all been on this crazy adventure together, not only the cast but the crew. It’s a shame that the camera never flips round to reveal the crew because they are so fun and they work incredibly hard. It will be a bit gutting not to have that experience every year, to come back and just go to work with your friends. But people are going to stay in touch and that’s the main thing.

Why do fans love The Last Kingdom so much?

I think it comes down to human connection. It’s not a modern show where people are distracted by phones and other things in society. It’s about life, friendship, love, the good times and bad. Connecting with nature. I think we’ve kind of lost that ever so slightly in today’s world.