Back when Michael Hirst's Vikings debuted in 2013, it was a relatively low-budget historical drama. But as it went on, the budget and scale got larger, and it was eventually talked about in a similar way to Game of Thrones. The series has already got one sequel spinoff, Vikings: Valhalla, which aired for three seasons on Netflix. Hirst's saga returns to our screens for spinoff Bloodaxe, coming to Prime Video later this year. Despite not even airing yet, Prime Video has renewed the series for season 2 in advance.
Set decades after the reign of Ragnar Lothbrok but before Netflix's Valhalla spinoff, Bloodaxe takes place in the 10th-century, chronicling the life of legendary Norse King Erik Bloodaxe, played by Xavier Molyneux. In the larger continuity, Erik Bloodaxe is the eldest surviving son and chosen heir of King Harald Finehair, the fan-favorite character played by Peter Franzen in the original series.
Other key cast members include Jessica Madsen as Erik's wife Gunnhild, Rod Hallett as Athelstan, and Levi Miller as Haakon the Good.
The advance renewal is an early indication that this series is going to be a hit. Fans are elated to see Hirst back at the helm alongside his son Horatio Hirst. Of course, Hirst stepped back from showrunner to producer for Valhalla, with Die Hard writer Jeb Stuart taking the reins (and still doing a very commendable job).
Bloodaxe season 2 begins filming this summer. “As the writers and showrunners of Bloodaxe, Horatio and I are very excited to announce that Amazon have also already commissioned a second season of our new Norse saga for Prime Video, which begins shooting in Ireland within a few weeks,” Hirst said in a statement, per Deadline.
He added: “We recognise how fortunate we are and we would both like to thank Peter Friedlander and Amazon MGM Studios for their belief in us and in this new incarnation of a show which means so much to millions of people across the world. We should add that we are so proud of the way Bloodaxe has turned out, in terms of its incredible storylines, its powerful invocation of Viking beliefs, its dramatic recreation of the way that Christianity has started to overcome the pagan world, and – not least – the way we use magic realism in an effort to induct the audience into a Viking mind-set. Basically, now the cat is out of the bag, we are thrilled that we can soon offer a world-wide audience the chance to re-enter the beautiful Norse world.”
Prime Video ordered Bloodaxe back in 2025. FIlming on season 1 is complete, with the show now in post-production. Currently, Prime Video has not set a release date, but the first batch of episodes are expected to drop later this year. Watch this space, folks!
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