The Last Kingdom Cast on the New Big Bad: 'Brida is Fierce in Season Five'

It’s all about safety, explains Cox. “When she was a little child, that was taken away from her. In her world, the only way the world can be safe is if everywhere is Daneland. She’s trying to get that safety for herself and for her daughter.”

Season five introduces daughter Vibeke (Emili Ackchina), a daughter that Brida never thought she’d have after being cursed in season one not to bear children. Curse lifted, Brida became pregnant by her Viking partner Cnut, whom she killed when she learned he had plotted the murder of her last love, Ragnar. In season five, we meet Vibeke as a child, having been raised by her mother as part of a Danish warrior cult in Iceland. Brida is an adoring, loving mother, says Cox, grateful to be able to play a softer side to a character whose axe does much of her talking.

After their paths diverged, Brida came to see Uhtred as a traitor to the Danes and to hate him for it, but according to Cox, it’s not only hate she feels. “There is a great deal of love for Uhtred, because if you don’t really love then you don’t really hate. She’s just very, very, very hurt and very, very, very sad and that’s why she does what she does.”

“There’s such a deep understanding between the two of them,” Cox continues. “Although Uhtred had a lot of women, I personally don’t believe that anybody got him as much as Brida, and he really got Brida.” Emotionally speaking, Uhtred is the most important person in Brida’s life apart from her daughter. She’s still half of his life and all of his madness, as Uhtred described her in season three? “That’s how I want to see it, definitely.”

Uhtred sees Brida in the same way, says Dreymon. “He has such a huge inner obstacle to overcome when he’s fighting her because despite everything she does, he loves her.” Uhtred doesn’t understand the source of Brida’s hatred and despite everything, hopes to be able to bring her back to the light, Dreymon explains. How possible that will be for a character so entrenched in violent revenge remains to be seen. Dreymon laughs, “Brida is fierce in season five, scary!”.

Scary, but also strangely content, says Cox. The season five opener finds Brida as happy as she could be, with a cult-like army of followers and a mission from the Gods. “From her point of view, big injustice has happened to her and she’s ready to take revenge and to destroy the people who did that to her. Also, from her point of view, it’s just the right thing to do, because being Danish or being Viking, it’s the right way to live. She thinks that if she goes over to conquer England, that is a good thing to do because she’s saving people.”