Five shows to watch while waiting for Game of Thrones Season 7

There is still quite a long time until Game of Thrones returns for its seventh season. True, we’re starting to hear the first round of filming rumors and casting calls. But that’s not enough to slake our unquenchable appetite for all things Westeros, so we turn our attention elsewhere.

There are loads of fantastic shows to watch between now and next summer, but in the interest of streamlining things, we’ll keep it to just five. So, here’re my personal choices for five shows you should be watching while you wait on Game of Thrones Season 7.

1. Vikings

No show currently on television so closely emulates the power struggles between kingdoms as shown on Game of Thrones better than History’s Vikings. This show, for being on basic cable, is an absolute bloodbath…and I love it.

Vikings follows the viking Ragnar Lothbrok. In Season 1, Ragnar is just a poor farmer trying to make his way in the world. As the season progresses, he and his brother Rollo and their friend Floki find a way to sail across the sea to North Umbria and start raiding and pillaging there. Soon, Ragnar is respected in his village, and he challenges his chieftain for right to rule. What happens next propels Ragnar into Norse legend.

There are currently four seasons of Vikings available to watch. Happily, History has renewed it for a fifth.

Vikings is not available on Netflix

Vikings is available on Hulu

Vikings is available on History online

Vikings is available on Amazon Prime

Vikings is available on iTunes

Next: Outlander