Convention - SDCC2020 : Vikings panel, a look back with the Lothbroks

By Mulder, 24 july 2020

Kate Hahn (moderator) : Hello and welcome the Vikings Comic-Con 2020 Panel. Joining us in the conversation are some of your favorite actors. We have Jordan Patrick Smith who plays Ubbe, Clive Standen who plays Rollo, Alex Ludwig who plays Bjorn Ironside, Katheryn Winnick who played Lagertha, and Travis Fimmel who played Ragnar and, last but not least we have the creator and executive producer of Vikings Michael Hirst. So, welcome everybody.

Katheryn Winnick : This is what the bummer part is. Comic-Con is all about the fans and we are missing all that. You know, the whole point of everyone... It’s a bummer that it’s not going to happen this year.

Clive Standen : Every year I used to look forward to Comic-Con with you boys.

Michael Hirst : Yeah, I did too. It was the highlight of Vikings, the highlight of my year.

Alexander Ludwig : : This sucks!

Jordan Patrick Smith : I have been waiting to go to Comic-Con for five years.

Kate Hahn : There was one year when somebody handed Katheryn their baby. Do you remember that?

Katheryn Winnick: Oh yes! They thought I would bless their child. Yeah, I remember that.

Kate Hahn : And the year that Travis showed up in the Kangaroo costume.

Clive Standen : Remember the first year, we really didn’t think anyone was going to show up. Well, we knew people would show up, but we had no idea it would be packed with people dressed as Vikings banging their shields and horns. It was the first moment, for me anyway. I remember sitting in the back of the minibus with Gustaf [Skarsgard] around episode three or four and I love Michael’s scripts before we even started making it. We were in love with the show, but are other people going to be as mad about the show as us? Is it going to be one of these historic shows that’s got a niche market and the people who are watching will love it, but the majority of...we had no idea and then we went to Comic-Con and heard that (replicates banging sound) before we even came out. And we were like “woah” there is an audience for this.

Katheryn Winnick : I think the very first season we were in a small room and in the end, the last season, we were in the biggest conference room that could hold us. There were people waiting outside for hours for us. It was insane. And one of my favorite moments was, I think it was year two or three, I ended up walking around and had to wear a mask and there were people dressed as Ragnar and Floki and Lagertha and you meet all these people and they just don’t recognize you...and just how invested they are in making their costumes, because everyone knows how labor intensive those are with the leather and people are just looking forward to that every year. So, hopefully they can bring that back soon.

Kate Hahn : They were known as the most fun panels at Comic-Con. I mean, they really were. You guys were so much fun, so lively and that one year where everyone signed the shield and then Travis had me give it to a fan. And Travis said like pick a fan, give it to a fan and it was this guy who was dressed as Floki and had no shield. I gave it to him and he was in tears.

Kate Hahn : I have to start off by saying Katheryn and Travis, I feel like we have a satellite uplink to Valhallah at this point because we have lost both of your characters. How are Lagertha and Ragnar getting along in Valhalla?

Travis Fimmel : We got back together. Everything’s great

Katheryn Winnick : I don’t know about that. He is still in the doghouse. But Valhalla’s been great.

Kate Hahn (moderator) : Is it everything you’ve expected it to be?

Katheryn Winnick : And more. I guess it’s bittersweet if I am being 100% honest in terms of being on the show for so long and having it aired and having Lagertha now gone to Valhalla. It was definitely harder than I thought, going through it, just personally, seeing my death. Seeing Lagertha transitioning over to Valhallah was a bittersweet moment in a lot of ways. Obviously because of all the hard work and made some amazing friends, but also sad to see it end, but Michael wrote me such a great death and a funeral.

Michael Hirst : It was a brilliant death. It was over two episodes, you know and both you and Travis had...I know had kinda shouted at me from his cage cause it was rainy and uncomfortable, but these deaths were brilliant and very highly emotional and no one is going to forget them.

Katheryn Winnick : It’s true. That last moment you did where Lagertha falls in the water and lands right next to Ragnar. And a little fun fact to the fans that last line “In my dreams, we are always together,” that was actually my audition line when I first tested as Lagertha. So it’s just full circle to see it all come all come back.

Alexander Ludwig : You know it’s cool the environment of our show felt like such a family, especially because in Dublin they work on so many things together, so they all knew each other. I have yet to work with such an incredible crew who is in such synchronicity all the time. Just amazing. I mean we all took the piss out of everybody, including them. They got us back too. It was so much fun.

Jordan Patrick Smith : That was the best part of working on Vikings was it was all one big family, there was no hierarchy from top to bottom. Especially when I came on the show and joined it. It didn’t matter who you were working with, it could be a grip, it could be a producer - someone’s throwing an apple at your head when you are turning around. It was just one big family with no hierarchy. Everyone’s just locked in together. When you are working out in the cold together in minus five, it does become a family. You know everyone and their personal lives and it is one of the things I miss most about the show.

Alexander Ludwig : Yeah, I agree.

Katheryn Winnick : Amazing when you step away how much you miss things. Like when you are in the rain and covered in mud and blood and you're like God, I just want to go back home to my own bed, but now you are like I want to go back to Ireland because, yeah you miss it.

Kate Hahn : Alex, I wanted to ask you Bjorn has had quite a few relationships. Is there someone who was his greatest love.

Alexander Ludwig : Man, his greatest love. I think...SPOILER ALERT…

Travis Fimmel : Ugh, what a moron!

Michael Hirst : He will never be able to repeat that was beautifully answered.

Alexander Ludwig : I think that after Thorunn left he had written off everything and kinda just used his sexual exploits as a way of self medicating. This feeling of never being good enough. I definitely think he saw a lot growing up with such a strong mother that I think that he saw bits of her in other women that he really connected with. But I don’t know if there was anything that came close to that forever, in Valhalla kind of love.

Kate Hahn : One of the most watched clips for all of Vikings is the one of you saying goodbye to your daughter Gita on the beach.

Kate Hahn : What was it like to shoot that for you and why do you think it resonates with people?

Travis Fimmel : It was written so well and Micheal, you have three daughters. It was written so beautifully. I don’t know why, but it took me about 3 minutes to memorize that whole thing because it was just written so well. All the best writing, I can memorize like that. On other shows that stuff isn’t written so well, I have a hard time.

Michael Hirst : Obviously, I mean as far as I know, you don’t have any kids. I was writing, literally thinking about a father talking to a daughter, a dead daughter and it became very powerful and very powerful to me, but it seemed, from the start, to be very meaningful to you too. That was one thing that struck me. It was very interesting and fascinating. In terms of the show, it seems like a moment cut out of time. It was deeply emotional. It was a very simple scene, but it's very deeply emotional and I did feel you were totally inside the scene, it meant something very deep to you and I was aware of that.

Kate Hahn : Another intense, emotional relationship was between Ragnar and Rollo, so Clive the audience has had a love, hate relationship with Rollo. He has done some wonderful things and some things that we don’t like very much. What’s your take on Rollo, can you defend some of the moves he has made?

Clive Standen : Um, Well I think he is always justified from Rollos point of view. When they first go west together, they agree to be equal. In Rollo’s eyes, when they come back, some people are more equal than others. Once Ragnar becomes the Earl and takes over from Earl Haarlson, I think from Rollo’s point of view and he even says it “How can we be equal now, brother.” I think that was the start of it. I think it gnaws away from him from the very beginning. He never feels quite equal. He always feels in the shadow. In Paris he stays there in the winter camp. It wasn’t Ragnar’s, he betrayed him. He just took Paris first. It was the first time where he was able to do something before Ragnar was able to get there first.

Michael Hirst : It was a great fight between you and Ragnar in the boat. There was a lot of pent up feeling going on

Clive Standen : Yeah, that was Travis. Remember, Travis? The stunt team who were incredible in our show, they always came up with fantastic fights and they came up with a fantastic fight for Ragnar and Rollo. It was all swords and it was a very beautiful fight and Travis came in, and he was right, he just said “this needs to be the tension between the brothers. It needs to be the brothers and not one of them is going to go down until one of them is dead. He showed some examples of fights and we arranged to get rid of the swords as soon as possible and just hit each other. It’s brutal and tragic when you watch it and that’s kudos to Travis who just came in and said “let’s make this as simple as possible.” So many beautiful battles and fights in the show. Let’s just have these two brothers going at it. It’s really, really hard to watch.

Kate Hahn : Travis, what do you remember about shooting that?

Travis Fimmel : It was enjoyable. We are still little kids on boats play wrestling and fighting. It was fun, but I think for the characters, up unti that very moment he was hoping Clive (Rollo) wouldn’t fight him back. That maybe he had a glimmer of hope that his brother wouldn’t betray him. As soon as that happens, I think it just devastated his world and it was the beginning of the end of his drive. And I think he really regretted his life. He just wanted to be back home and wishing he never went against Earl Haraldson. Sort of broken, more so than anything he ever did.

Kate Hahn : Even his relationship with Lagertha falling apart?

Travis Fimmel : Well, I think that was part of the whole climb to power as well. None if it was worth it in the end. The Lagertha thing killed him, broke his heart. He always had hope for that as well, I guess. That was the first time in his life he lost hope and just had to get away. Knew it was the end. And at the end he decided, after he went away he decided he couldn’t go out like that. Michael wrote such a great ended where he came back and he was a bitter old Ragnar, playing games with people. It was written really good and he had a great arc. I was so lucky, well we were so lucky being in a show we could age as well. There ‘s not many shows you could get to do that.

Kate Hahn : Jordan, I want to ask you. What was it like coming into this show, not being with it from the very beginning. Do you remember your first day on set?

Jordan Patrick Smith : I do remember my first day on the set because Travis slapped me in the face 45 times. That was my introduction to Vikings. When I first came to set it was big shoes to fill. I remember walking down the hills and someone said “please don’t mess this up, our jobs depend on you.” So that was what the four brothers were introduced to walking down the hill. But I also remember everyone being so welcoming. It was our first time in Ireland together, fou brothers and everyone was so welcoming. Like the scene were Travis smacks me in the face, its Travis who wants to be King and he belts me across the side of the ear and he keeps doing it and doing it and doing it. And when it got turned around it wasn’t even on me at the time. When it got to me he had to keep slapping me to keep the same emotion and my ear was rigning for days afterwards. It was quite the Vikings introduction.

Kate Hahn : Yeah, you dod have quite the Vikings experience when you first started. Well, you are the son of Ragnar that looks the most like him. I am wondering, did you study him at all? What did you get out of watching him before you started?

Jordan Patrick Smith : See Travis is a (inaudible), so I am not sure if that is an insult or a compliment. Yes, definitely studied Travis when I first got there. I notice anyone I know with a family of friends if you have got big character in your family, everyone has some characteristic to them. I think the way that Michael wrote is he definitely gave a part of each person personality, so a part of Ragnars character to each of the brothers. So, I really studied Ubbe’s part of that and I tried to steal the way she reacts to certain things or the way he holds his head, the way he walks. Just pick little things you take from your dad over the years and try and work that in.

Kate Hahn : What do you think are the qualities that Ubbe shares with Ragnar?

Jordan Patrick Smith : I think his curiosity woud be the main one. I think his ability to see passed himself. It’s not just about what he wants and what he can do. He is thinking about the people and where the world is going in the future and where he is going to fit in that world and how he is going to discover it and how he is going to take the Vikings on a journey, not just a personal journey.

Kate Hahn : And we are hearing in the second part of six that he will get to do a little more exploring. Can you hit at any of that?

Jordan Patrick Smith : I don’t know. Michael, am I allowed to hit at any of that? Yeah, Michael has really wrapped up the show really well. I think the way that Michael has written it, the Vikings really travel, and you still family dynamic and you get to see Ubbe go on an incredible journey and I think things wrap up really well. I think the fans are really, really going to like it. And I don’t want to say anything more because I know I will say something I don’t want to.

Kate Hahn : Michael, I wanted to ask you. You know you had to kill off some really beloved characters, some you were planning to kill off and some you weren’t. Were you ever nervous writing someone out of the script? Like, am I going to lose fans because of this?

Michael Hirst : Yeah and obviously the big decision to kill Ragnar and when I wrote the outline of the show Ragnar dies at the end of season one, but actually when we were making it I realized by the end of season one we were only at the start of Ragnar’s journey really. But of course there were plenty of gloomy, doom-laden warnings to kill off your major character will damage the show and it was a risk. Travis had such a huge presence, a huge reputation, but I sold the show on that this was about Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons and you know, someone said earlier that this show allowed the actors to grow up, grow older and that was a very important thing. And there were children and animals in it as well, you know all things you are not supposed to do. I just stuck to that and what happened was that Ragnar continued to be a presence in the rest of the show. He never really went away. People continues to talk about him. There were his sons. So it wasn’t a huge risk after all. But it was great to see these young actors coming along and taking their chance and Alex being a conduit between them. Alex, by that stage, Alex was in the show for the longest. The show is about his character, almost more than it is anyone else’s, but this evolving of people into their characters, into their nature, into their fate, was a very important part of the show and the experience of the show and about Vikings. What did Vikings think about life and what did you pass on. And, quickly, the other person that was very difficult was Heralf Finehair. A brilliant, brilliant actor who in the script I killed off three times and counldn’t do it. He did lots of bad stuff, that guy, but he did it so well and he had such a sense of humor. I just didn’t want to lose that. There wasn’t that many laughs in Vikings, but he gave us most of them and I just couldn’t do it. I just couldnt sacrifice him. He just lived on, he endured, he survived. He is a survivor.

Kate Hahn : Katheryn, do you have a favorite fight scene from all these five seasons?

Katheryn Winnick : Favorite fight scene, oh wow. I don’t know if I have a favorite one. The one that sticks out in my mind right now is Lagertha’s very first one where she is at home and these two guys come in and she grabs the poke in the fire and she fights them off. That was one fight scene. The one with Ragnar where he tells her not to go raiding and she is testing him by really pushing him and it turned into a little loves quarl.

Alexander Ludwig : Katheryn, that last one that just came out, your last big fight scene, that was tremendous.

Katheryn Winnick : That was the most exhausting definitely. The most emotionally draining, 100%.

Michael Hirst : It was absolutely brilliant. It was tough to watch. And I will tell you something else, I don’t believe that anyone who’s watching that that thought that you could win. I honestly think that. There was something in your eyes at this certain point when you for the first time felt that you probably wouldn’t survive this fight and it was such a telling moment. It was beautifully done. It was beautifully choreographed, but it was really tough to watch it. It was very emotional. But the first one, the one you mentioned, the very first one. That was interesting. We didn’t cast Vikings in a conventional way and we took a chance on both you and Travis. And people who pay alot of money for these things get very jittery and very nervous about wether you are making the right decision and that, in terms of you and your performance, all those jitters, all that anxiety went away, melted away as soon as the guys in suits saw that scene of you dealing with those two robbers.

Katheryn Winnick : That’s nice to hear.

Kate Hahn : Jordan, what about you? Is there a battle scene? You had it pretty tough in season five.

Jordan Patrick Smith : There have been quite a few big battle scenes that have stood out. The one in season five. I think Katheryn said something which is great. It’s all about the story involved in a fight. Fighting is fun to watch, it’s entertaining, but there is always an underlying story and what I liked most about that scene with Frodo...it was the first time I realized what Ubbe was willing to sacrifice for his people and he was literally will ing to hand down his life. When he was outnumbered it was the only way to make a decision about what was good for Katagat, the Vikings people as a whole and how they could move forward and he was willing to put his life down.

Jordan Patrick Smith : It took six weeks to rehearse. It was physically draining for me, but it was really the stunt team. There was a guy named Lee McDermot, he put so effort, so much time into it. He sacrificed his own private time as well any time you want. He put so much so much effort into the choreography and he really created a story throughout. It just shows you the importance of the whole situation.

Michael Hirst : That was one of the reasons why I liked one in particular...I think there are loads of great battle scenes and the choreography was always fantastic. But a battle isn’t one event, it’s thousands, hundreds of thousands events coming together. So each person has their own battle. Each person experiences battle in a different way. There was a battle with everyone involved. We actually cut away from their individual battle, to their memories or you saw your father I think in that battle and something happened to most of the lead characters. So cut out the battle and the battle sort of faded away just a den in the background, but each individual was having their own intense experience. I think you also got badly wounded in that one but, anyway, I think some people the audience found that confusing but that’s part of the principle i am working on is this is a story of these individual people and they act collectively but they have their individual experiences all the time.

Kate Hahn : Alex, do you have a favorite battle moment that was very personal for Bjorn?

Alexander Ludwig : Yeah, I mean for me the one that stands out off the top of my head is definitely at the end of Season 5 when they’ve lost and he’s outside the gates and Michael wrote such an amazing speech for that where he pleads with his friends and neighbors and everybody who is now fighting on Ivar’s side outside of Kattegat it was pretty heartbreaking. Credit to everybody who was involved in making that because I had lost my voice because I was screaming all day and the day before and that day too when we were trying to battle down the gate and I had no voice by the time we did this speech and in ADR obviously for those who don’t know when sound is messed up or you can’t quite hear somebody, you have to re-record it in a recording studio whereas for this we thought we should keep it the way it was because it was just so heartbreaking to see how much he’s given and really how he is on his last leg. So that for me was a huge moment in the show and one i’m very grateful to have been a part of.

Michael Hirst : Honestly Alex and Travis, all of you, I mean jesus I was blessed with having such an intelligent cast. These are sort of deeply thoughtful people and answers which it’s not always true let me tell you. They excavated their characters to an extraordinary degree and it’s making me feel extraordinarily proud I must say.

Alexander Ludwig : Michael, we are eternally grateful to you too, man. I think I speak for everyone when I say how lucky we were to have somebody who is so open - I’ll never forget, I always talk about this, we had story time, whenever we had dinner at Michael’s it was story time, seeing where the show would go and to have a showrunner like Michael who is obviously so incredibly talented but also willing to just dive into the character with you is just unparalleled so thank you, man.

Katheryn Winnick : And i’m going to add to that, like Michael we’re spoiled because he is the best showrunner out there where you really feel that you’re building your character with him so it's not like here's a script here are the words you have to say which a lot of shows do, here you’re so invested in building something that’s a legacy within your character and Michael, with how warm and thoughtful and brilliant your mind works and how you get to know us as people and add that in to our characters is just remarkable, we would not be here after 6 years and 6 seasons if it wasn’t for the man who writes every episode and the godfather of it all is you, Michael Hirst. I am eternally grateful.

Clive Standen : I don’t know how you do it, how you write everything yourself. Sometimes I look at you and I feel like you’re a sponge you can’t take anymore water but yet I always felt heard. I always felt that I could come to you and give you all of my crazy ideas probably one out of one hundred was probably worth your time but you listened to them all and then sometimes they would end up in the script sometimes I think you conveniently forget all of the crap ones and then I would just know that you listened, but i;ve never had that experience again on any other TV show where I felt like my showrunner listened to what I had to say and yet still was holding the whole thing aloft.

Kate Hahn : Katheryn, did you have something you wanted to mention?

Katheryn Winnick : Leaving Ireland we had such incredible directors and Helen Shaver was one of my mentors and when I got behind the camera for the first time as a director, Helen Shaver was really instrumental in helping me with the foundation of how it all works and comes together. As an actress you’re in front of the camera you’re looking at your story as your little movie but it’s a completely different perspective and learning curve to get behind the camera. This show in particular feels like each episode is like a movie. You have the creative freedom and Michael Hirst not only as an actor can give you that freedom but also as a director he really does give you that freedom to play and be able to have something epic on screen and storytell something amazing. And that for me was an incredible experience when I directed 608 it was just so invaluable and I am forever grateful for that.

Michael Hirst : I love collaborating with the directors and the cast. I’d always try and talk through things and try and take on board concerns and ideas and things. One of the most radical ideas was of course Travis’s - we would have a meeting before we went into the next set of two episodes, we were going to discuss the last episode of season 2 - and Travis said - which is during that episode when Travis learns (Ragnar learns), the Lord’s Prayer from Athenstand.

Michael Hirst : And Travis said to me, do you think, perhaps it would be a good idea if I don’t say anything in this episode except the Lord’s Prayer? And I said, “well you are in a lot of scenes” and he said “yeah but I can do it by looking,” I don’t need to say anything. So this was for sure a radical idea and I looked at the script and I was thinking well you know other people can say those words or I can get information somewhere else and it’s a cool idea anyway, we may get away with it. I said don’t tell anyone. Don’t tell MGM. Don’t tell History. Because no one would allow it, your lead character is not saying what’s on the page that they had approved the script and he’s not saying it. So we did it and I don’t think anyone noticed, nobody noticed that he didn’t say anything because he was still in the scenes and because he was present and has such a presence on screen they thought he had said things so it was absolutely amazing.

Clive Standen : We also had a cast and crew who really cared from the very beginning. I remember when in season one we had a director there was a day where for some reason we were doing a scene and they wanted one of the extras, one of the Vikings to be beheaded on a block. And the director was kind of kicking off and set it all up and we’re going to do it, it was early in the morning and we all kind of went, no, Vikings they wouldn’t be sacrificed like that. They would stand up, take the axe and look their murderer in the face. And it became one of those conversations. I wish Gustaf was here because he was the leader, he was inspiring to me because it’s probably his culture, he was the very first cast member and he was from Sweden and a lot of us were from Australia, Canada and England and I remember the director said it’s just a TV show and I remember Gustaf and I backed him up and Katheryn was there and we just kind of went not to us it isn’t. And the director said how do you know all this stuff about Vikings? Because we read a book, have you? It was a polite argument but it was just suddenly getting someone who had gone well i’ve seen it in this film, i’ve seen it in Mary Queen of Scots so this is how we do beheadings and I said well no we’re not trying to copy everyone else, we’ve done our research and we want to make this different. We care about it. We care about these people. It’s the first time it’s actually been done on screen. That’s the only time I can think because everyone else kind of fell into line and all that comes down to you again Travis by leading by example. But people would turn up and they would muck in and we would get the best out of the budget we had.

Katheryn Winnick : I think it helped us all living away from home and just being in Dublin for all these years. We had to make a family and friends which really forced us to bond quicker. That chemistry is evident on camera.

Alexander Ludwig : Of course i’ll never be allowed back but it was great while it lasted.

Kate Hahn : Are you banned? Are you banned from the republic of Ireland?

Alexander Ludwig : I think all of us are probably banned from Ireland at this point.

Kate Hahn : Clive can you remember any of the specific things that you pitched about Rollo that ended up in the script?

Clive Standen : The first thing that comes to mind, I remember I nearly got into trouble with Jennie Jacques when it was with the director Helen Shaver not Michael and I remember I was reading the script for the first time and it was that scene where she gets her ear chopped off. In the script it wasn’t meant to happen, it was meant to be, she was meant to seem like they were going to cut her ear off, then she blurts out Aethelwulf’s name and she was saved, and I remember sitting with Helen Shaver going I don’t think I can have this conversation with Michael or Jennie because Jennie would kill me but I think she needs to lose an ear. She needs to lose the ear because think of everything you can do with that everytime Aethelwulf comes up to her and wants to touch her and we can hide it with hair and I remember Helen Shaver going it wasn’t your idea. It’s my idea now. She took it forward to make it happen.

Kate Hahn : Michael, the second half of the sixth season will air later this year, can you give us a little hint about what fans can expect?

Michael Hirst : Sure. The characters who we all, including me, have grown to love will all have their fates decided. Whether they live or die is of course in the hands of the gods, although I had a hand in it too. I think the conclusion of this saga is deeply satisfying. A proper and meaningful ending. And I hope all our fans will feel the same way. I tried to do justice to all my characters and I hope I've succeeded.

Kate Hahn : Thank you Michael, Katheryn, Travis, Alex, Clive and Jordan. This has been so much fun. Thank you for all the amazing work on Vikings.

Katheryn Winnick : And thank you to all the fans out there. For six seasons and being there sticking with us and following us and binge watching and telling all your friends, thank you guys.

Alexander Ludwig : We love you guys.

Travis Fimmel : Happy Comic-Con.

Highlights
- About the death of Lagertha, Katheryn Winnick says: That last moment you did where Lagertha falls in the water and lands right next to Ragnar. And a little fun fact to the fans that last line “In my dreams, we are always together,” that was actually my audition line when I first tested as Lagertha. So it’s just full circle to see it all come back.
- About the final scene where Ragnar is sitting at the water’s edge, saying goodbye to his daughter, Travis Fimmel says: I don’t know why, but it took me about 3 minutes to memorize that whole thing because it was just written so well. All the best writing, I can memorize like that.
- About the fight scene between Ragnar and Rollo, Clive Standen says: The stunt team who were incredible in our show, they always came up with fantastic fights and they came up with a fantastic fight for Ragnar and Rollo. It was all swords and it was a very beautiful fight and Travis came in, and he was right, he just said “this needs to be the tension between the brothers. It needs to be the brothers and not one of them is going to go down until one of them is dead.” He showed some examples of fights and we arranged to get rid of the swords as soon as possible and just hit each other.
- About Bjorn Ironside’s greatest love, Alexander Ludwig says: I think that after Thorunn left he had written off everything and kinda just used his sexual exploits as a way of self-medicating.
- About his first day on set, Jordan Patrick Smith says: I do remember my first day on the set because Travis slapped me in the face 45 times. That was my introduction to Vikings. When I first came to set it was big shoes to fill. I remember walking down the hills and someone said “please don’t mess this up, our jobs depend on you.” So that was what the four brothers were introduced to walking down the hill. But I also remember everyone being so welcoming…
- About the scene where Ragnar learns the Lord’s Prayer, Michael Hirst says: And Travis said to me, “do you think, perhaps it would be a good idea if I don’t say anything in this episode except the Lord’s Prayer?” And I said, “well you are in a lot of scenes” and he said “yeah but I can do it by looking,” I don’t need to say anything. So this was for sure a radical idea and I looked at the script and I was thinking well you know other people can say those words or I can get information somewhere else and it’s a cool idea anyway, we may get away with it.

Synopsis :
Vikings transports us to the brutal and mysterious world of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking warrior and farmer who yearns to explore - and raid - the distant shores across the ocean.

Vikings
Created and written by Michael Hirst
Starring Travis Fimmel, Katheryn Winnick, Clive Standen, Jessalyn Gilsig, Gustaf Skarsgård, Gabriel Byrne, George Blagden, Donal Logue, Alyssa Sutherland, Linus Roache, Alexander Ludwig, Ben Robson, Kevin Durand, Lothaire Bluteau, John Kavanagh, Peter Franzén, Jasper Pääkkönen, Alex Høgh Andersen, Marco Ilsø, David Lindström, Jordan Patrick Smith, Moe Dunford, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Danila Kozlovsky, Eric Johnson, Georgia Hirst, Ragga Ragnars, Ray Stevenson
Opening theme "If I Had a Heart" by Fever Ray
Composer : Trevor Morris
Executive producers : Morgan O'Sullivan, Sheila Hockin, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, James Flynn, John Weber, Michael Hirst
Producers : Steve Wakefield,Keith Thompson, Sanne Wohlenberg, Liz Gill
Cinematography : John Bartley, PJ Dillon, Owen McPolin, Peter Robertson, Suzie Lavelle
Editors : Aaron Marshall, Michele Conroy, Don Cassidy, Tad Seaborn, Christopher Donaldson, Dan Briceno
Running time : 45 minutes
Production companies : TM Productions, Take 5 Productions, Octagon Films (seasons 1–4), Shaw Media (seasons 1–4), Corus Entertainment (seasons 4–6), MGM Television, History
Distributor: MGM Television
Original network: History (United States), Netflix (France)
Original release March 3, 2013 – present

Photos : Copyright History Channel

(Source : press release)