The Last Kingdom spin-off film Seven Kings Must Die finally finds the young Aethelstan (Harry Gilby) make a brutal bid for the throne of Wessex \u2013 but a secret is weighing heavily on his soul.<\/p>\n
Indeed, it is soon revealed that Aethelstan is in a sexual relationship with his closest adviser Ingilmundr (Laurie Davidson), for which he feels a great deal of shame due to his devout Christianity.<\/p>\n
He feels that, if he can spread his faith far and wide by becoming king, then it might redeem him in the eyes of God for his homosexual desires, but this attitude causes him to act erratically \u2013 and leaves him open to manipulation.<\/p>\n
Viewers watching at home might be wondering whether King Aethelstan was gay in real life, so we put the question to Seven Kings Must Die<\/a> screenwriter Martha Hillier.<\/p>\n Martha Hillier has been part of The Last Kingdom<\/a> family for quite some time, having written both seasons 4 and 5 of the television series as well as Seven Kings Must Die.<\/p>\n She told RadioTimes.com<\/a> that there is \u201csome evidence\u201d to suggest that Aethelstan could have been gay, which is why the plot point was included in Bernard Cornwell\u2019s books<\/a> (known collectively as The Saxon Stories).<\/p>\n \u201cAll of that period is hard to research [but] there is definitely a reasonable amount of debate about it. It\u2019s not something we\u2019ve made up for TV \u2013 not at all,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n The screenwriter went on to acknowledge that including diversity in a period drama can prove controversial, as was also the case when Father Benedict<\/a> (Patrick Robinson) was introduced in season 5.<\/p>\n Hillier continued: \u201cLGBT history is only a relatively new subject, so it\u2019s quite interesting that people are so keen to say \u2018that can\u2019t be the case\u2019. Why couldn\u2019t it be the case?<\/p>\n \u201cI want to get it right, but you\u2019re never going to satisfy the people who\u2019ve decided that you\u2019re doing things for other reasons. It actually wasn\u2019t about trying to be inclusive or anything \u2013 it was just like \u2018this is interesting\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cIt\u2019s stuff we\u2019ve not done [before]. Otherwise it\u2019s like, \u2018Well, what do you want? For everyone to be exactly the same? All the characters to be exactly the same all the time?\u2019\u201d<\/p> Seven Kings Must Die: was Aethelstan really gay?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/harry-gilby-last-kingdom-cb03c8e.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>