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Site Update: The Last Kingdom - Episode 2.08 [32 HQ Tagless Stills]

“Series two is also set to welcome new characters, such as Toby Regbo’s Aethelred (“A godly man,” says Regbo, “but actually, what Aethelred does isn’t great. He talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk”) as well as old characters with new actors playing them. The prominent role taken by Alfred and Aelswith’s daughter Aethelflaed this series required her to be recast with somebody slightly older.“Some of the stuff that happens to Aethelflaed I don’t think they could have actually got an actual sixteen year old or anyone younger than that to play,” says new actor to the role Millie Brady. “She has a bit of a rough ride…. We can expect Aethelflaed to be much more than a subservient princess, Brady promises…. Re-inserting Aethelflaed into the story of England is an aspect of series two that Dawson is particularly excited to share. “What I love about this series is Aethelflaed, historically, was this amazing, fiercely intelligent, political queen of Mercia who was a major part of why England emerged….

….. As well as Alfred’s influence spreading, his daughter Aethelflaed will be playing a bigger role in this series as she is prepared to become a ruler. She is not the only newcomer to the drama, Toby Rego will be playing Alfred’s ally Aethelred.

Actress Millie, 23, admitted that she had been nervous about joining the show as a newcomer after watching The Last Kingdom: “I’d seen the first series and loved the first series.

"Toby’s new on this series as well, we were both saying it was that weird thing of seeing everyone on TV before you know them then you come onto set and it’s like, ‘wow!’”

Reflecting on why she took on the role, Millie said: “I think mainly because she’s a real character in history, she is our only Anglo-Saxon queen of that era, so she was this amazing woman in history who was a warrior queen and a lot of what drew me to her was she’s a protofeminist, especially in the climate that we’re in now. It’s an amazing part to play and still so relevant.”

Toby, 25, added: “It’s really weird that you watch the show and then you’re like, ‘I’m in the telly now.’ It’s weird. You’re asked questions by the character and you’re meant to be answering, you’re like, ‘what’s going on? Oh, I’ve got lines to say as well, I know what the answer is’.”