The Last Kingdom had a pretty solid run across its 46 episodes. Airing on BBC Two for the first 2 seasons the show was picked up by Netflix for the remainder of the series. Now as the show has wrapped up its fifth and final season its massive ensemble cast will soon be moving on from the action-packed historical epic.

Based on The Saxon Stories book series by Bernard Cornwell The Last Kingdom follows the conflict between the Saxon and Viking forces as the latter continue to invade and conquer much of England. Each season covers two of the ten novels of Cornwells series with the fifth season and an upcoming movie Seven Kings Must Die ending the story once and for all.Arnas Fedaravičius and Alexander Dreymon play Sihtric and Uhtred in the series a couple of unlikely friends who become bonded through war and blood. With this in mind some fans might be wondering if the actors who play these characters have a real-life friendship that mirrors that of their onscreen counterparts.

The actors behind the Saxons became fast friends

Arnas Fedaravičius sat down with Winter is Coming to talk about his character bastard-turned-warrior Sihtric and the friendships hes formed while working on The Last Kingdom. Though Alexander Dreymon has previously discussed how tight-knit he is with Fedaravičius (via Stack) the actor behind Sihtric offered his own thoughts here by talking about his friendship with Dreymon and other cast members. I feel like we didnt really intend it that way in season 2 but then as soon as we met up and were introduced to each other we became really close friends really fast Fedaravičius recalled. We started spending so much time together off-screen working out having dinners helping each other with tapes. Just lots and lots of time together. And bit by bit we started realizing thats what gives life to the show the actor concluded.

Fedaravičius is right about that. Anyone who has watched The Last Kingdom will note the authenticity that accompanies the comradery between the warriors in the series. Furthermore the chemistry between the characters helps make the world and its denizens feel more authentic and nuanced.

I think its a blessing to work with actors that are so open. Some of us have a hundred ideas a day Mark [Rowley] has a hundred ideas a day Fedaravičius said of his co-star. Not all of his ideas can land but were so open to them that it just creates this space so Im happy to hear the chemistry play out he finished. Though the series has come to an end it sounds like many members of the cast of The Last Kingdom have developed friendships that will continue to bond them outside of the world of the show that they worked on together for so many years.