WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Last Kingdom season 4 that may influence your enjoyment in discovering the plotlines. Read at your own risk.
There will be a new villain instigating problems in The Last Kingdom season 4. Eardwulf, played by Jamie Blackley, is under the employ of Lord Aethelred, played by Toby Regbo, as the Commander of the Mercian's household warriors.
Regbo himself confirmed Blackley's addition as Eardwulf via an Instagram post taken on the set of The Last Kingdom season 4. Eardwulf is the new right-hand man after Aethelred stabbed his former advisor and right-hand, Aldhelm, played by James Northcote, for betraying him in The Last Kingdom season 3.
In the book series written by Bernard Cornwell, "The Empty Throne," which is the basis for this upcoming season, Eardwulf becomes the likely candidate to assume the Lordship of Mercia when Aethelred succumbs to his battle wounds. Uhtred, played by Alexander Dreymon, however, will try to prevent this from happening upon learning that Eardwulf has plans to marry Aethelred's daughter and kill the Lady of Mercia and Uhtred's friend, Aethelflaed, played by Millie Brady.
It's still uncertain if The Last Kingdom season 4 will follow the events of the books to the letter. It's pretty clear, however, that Eardwulf will be bad news for the show's hero, Uhtred.
Meanwhile, The Last Kingdom season 4 is also partly based on another book, "The Pagan Lord," which sees Uhtred going to war against another villain, the Dane leader Cnut, played by Magnus Brunn, who joined in the third season. The actor confirmed in a post on his social media he finished his work on the show in the middle of September.
This suggested that Cnut will die earlier in The Last Kingdom season 4, which follows the same trajectory of his character in the books. Brunn, however, won't confirm to fans if this is happening in the upcoming season and he clarified that he's only finished with work on the show for the season.
Netflix has not yet announced the actual release date of The Last Kingdom season 4, which was renewed in December 2018. Speculations are that the show will drop the new episodes sometime in early 2020.
The Last Kingdom season 4 also stars Emily Cox (as Brida), Timothy Innes (as King Edward), Eliza Butterworth (as Aelswith), Jeppe Beck Laursen (as Haesten), Mark Rowley (as Finan), Arnas Fedaravicius (as Sihtric), Adrian Bouchet (as Steapa) and Ian Hart (as Father Beocca). The show originally aired on BBC in 2015 until it became an exclusive Netflix production in 2018.
