Vikings: Valhalla will continue the epic Norse saga Michael Hirst began back in 2013. Lasting for six seasons, Vikings chronicled the life of legendary farmer-turned-warrior Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons. The upcoming spinoff, however, will take place approximately 100 years later, telling the tales of a whole new generation of Norsemen. In order to do justice to the characters and their stories, showrunner Jeb Stuart has laid out a “multi-season” plan.
Unlike the early seasons of Vikings, which largely focused on Ragnar (Travis Fimmel), the spinoff kicks off by introducing us to three main protagonists: Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett), Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson), and Harald Hardrada (Leo Suter). Other characters include
Just like in the original series, there are plenty of battles and power struggles — just take a look at the most recent teaser:
Stuart is particularly excited about Freydis and Emma of Normandy. “I latched on to Freydis, who I thought was a spectacular female character,” he told Polygon. “And one of the things I love about the era, especially from a writing standpoint, is women could own property and they could rule kingdoms … just a piece of her father’s property. And then she became one of the richest women in Europe by the time she was in her early 20s. How did she do that?”
Netflix is already working on Vikings: Valhalla season 3
Netflix has already commissioned 24 episodes of the show, thanks to Stuart’s pleas. “When I was out pitching it, I was trying to pitch it as a multi-season thing, because that way I can develop those characters in the storylines over a longer, longer throw,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “It wasn’t like, ‘What can we do with the Vikings this year?'”
"We’ve got several great characters and we’ve got stories in different countries and things like that. I think that you almost need to be able look over the horizon."
Since season 1 is confirmed to consist of eight episodes, there are enough episodes commissioned to take us all the way through season 3, which is already being worked on. “We’re already in prep on season 3,” Stuart said. “There’s a lot under the dam already that is exciting and big.”
It looks like there’s potential here for Valhalla to run for as long as the original series did. As always, we’ll have to wait and see how fans respond.
Original Vikings showrunner wants the spinoff to feel “nostalgic”
The original Vikings show was managed by Michael Hirst. While he isn’t the boss of Valhalla, he is an executive producer. Stuart said that Hirst told him to make the Netflix show feel “nostalgic.”
"I [knew] what he meant immediately. The goal of the show is that, as we move from season to season, there’s parts of it we’re going to have to give up. So my goal would be, at the very end, that you suddenly look back on this incredible period of time of both shows and say, ‘Wow, it was really good when they were just killing those Saxons. I miss the purity of that moment.’"
I can imagine the spinoff will make fans of Vikings pretty nostalgic. I think everyone will shed a tear or two if/when they mention Ragnar Lothbrok.
Vikings: Valhalla premieres on February 25 on Netflix.
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