Vikings | |
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Season 1 | |
Starring | |
No. of episodes | 9 |
Release | |
Original network | History |
Original release | March 3 – April 28, 2013 |
Season chronology | |
Vikings is a historical drama television series created and written by Michael Hirst for the Canadian television channel History. [1] The series broadly follows the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and in later seasons those of his sons. The first season premiered on March 3, 2013 in Canada and concluded on April 28, 2013, consisting of nine episodes. It begins at the start of the Viking Age, marked by the Lindisfarne raid in 793, and follows Ragnar's quest to become Earl, and his desire to raid England.
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Rites of Passage" | Johan Renck | Michael Hirst | March 3, 2013 | |
Ragnar and his brother, Rollo, return from a battle in the Baltic lands during which Ragnar has visions of the god Odin and his valkyries. Home again, Ragnar takes his son Bjorn to Kattegat, for Bjorn's rite of passage. Left at home, Ragnar's wife Lagertha quickly dispatches two would-be rapists. While in Kattegat, Ragnar convinces Rollo that raids to the West are worthwhile and possible, thanks to new navigational tools, but is rebuked by his ruler, Earl Haraldson, who continues to order raids into the Baltic. Bjorn and Ragnar visit Floki, Ragnar's friend and a gifted shipwright, who has been secretly building a new type of longship, which they successfully test. Meanwhile, back at home, Rollo makes unwelcome advances on Lagertha. Ragnar has yet another vision of Odin, standing on the shoreline. This finally convinces Ragnar to move on with his plan. | ||||||
2 | 2 | "Wrath of the Northmen" | Johan Renck | Michael Hirst | March 10, 2013 | |
After gathering volunteers, Ragnar, Rollo, and Floki embark on an unauthorised raid to the west. Lagertha violently objects to Ragnar's refusal to take her along. Earl Haraldson has the blacksmith who forged Ragnar's anchor killed. At sea the crew are caught in a storm, which a manic Floki interprets as Thor proving his ship unsinkable. On land, monks see the ominous sign of a cloud shaped like a dragon. After a tense voyage, Ragnar's men land on the coast of England, near the monastery of Lindisfarne, which they proceed to sack. They kill most of the monks and capture the rest to take back as slaves, including the young Athelstan, whom Ragnar protects from death at Rollo's hands. | ||||||
3 | 3 | "Dispossessed" | Johan Renck | Michael Hirst | March 17, 2013 | |
Ragnar's warband returns in triumph to Kattegat, where the Earl immediately confiscates the plundered riches except for one piece per man. Ragnar picks the distraught Athelstan and returns home. The monk's faith and his vow of chastity perplex Ragnar, but he, nonetheless, gathers useful intelligence about the kingdom of Northumbria. Based on this new insight, Earl Haraldson authorises another raid on England. Now accompanied by Lagertha and the Earl's brother, Knut, Ragnar re-embarks post-haste, leaving Athelstan to mind the farm and the children. As the Vikings set foot on English soil, they are met by the local sheriff and a handful of armsmen, who invite the newly landed "traders" to meet King Aelle. Ragnar agrees, but his other warriors' distrust provokes a battle in which the Northumbrians are slaughtered. | ||||||
4 | 4 | "Trial" | Ciarán Donnelly | Michael Hirst | March 24, 2013 | |
The Vikings raid the Northumbrian village of Hexham with little bloodshed, as the villagers are gathered for Mass. During the raid, Lagertha kills Knut when he tries to rape a Saxon villager, and then her. Back on the beach, the raiders defeat a superior Northumbrian force under Lord Wigea, sent by King Aelle, and return to Kattegat. There, Earl Haraldson has Ragnar, who claims to have killed Knut, arrested and tried at the Thing assembly. The Earl's ploy to bribe Rollo to testify against Ragnar fails, and Ragnar is acquitted. As the raiders celebrate with Athelstan and Ragnar's children, they are assaulted by armed men. Although Ragnar's followers prevail, his companion Erik is killed. | ||||||
5 | 5 | "Raid" | Ciarán Donnelly | Michael Hirst | March 31, 2013 | |
When Earl Haraldson's raiders assault Ragnar's settlement, Ragnar, Lagertha, Athelstan, and the children narrowly escape in a boat. Ragnar is severely wounded, and Athelstan saves him from drowning. The family hides in Floki's house, where the shipwright and his lover Helga slowly nurse Ragnar back to health. Meanwhile, Earl Haraldson marries off his daughter, Thyri, to an elderly earl from Svealand, against his wife, Siggy's, wishes. Aware that the Earl is watching Ragnar's friends, Rollo offers his services to Haraldson. Haraldson has Rollo seized and tortured in an unsuccessful attempt to discover Ragnar's whereabouts. As Torstein, a friend of Ragnar, brings word of this to the still-weak Ragnar, Ragnar sends Floki to deliver a challenge to the Earl — a single combat with Ragnar. | ||||||
6 | 6 | "Burial of the Dead" | Ciarán Donnelly | Michael Hirst | April 7, 2013 | |
The Earl accepts Ragnar's challenge, and the two meet in single combat. Ragnar kills Haraldson and Siggy kills Bjarni. After Ragnar becomes the new Earl, he grants his dead foe a chieftain's burial at sea, and Athelstan is revolted to see a slave agree to follow her master in death. During the following winter, Lagertha becomes pregnant and Siggy wants to leave town. But Rollo tries to convince Siggy to stay, asking her to marry him, as he mentions his desire to become an Earl. Athelstan asks Ragnar about Ragnarök. Unknowingly Athelstan has broken a social taboo, but Ragnar informs him by feeding him a drug and having the village seer tell Athelstan. This causes the monk to have horrific visions of the world's end. As spring beckons, three of Ragnar's ships sail up the River Tyne. After throwing the luckless Wigea into a snake pit, King Aelle prepares to meet the raiders in battle. | ||||||
7 | 7 | "A King's Ransom" | Ken Girotti | Michael Hirst | April 14, 2013 | |
The Vikings set up a fortified camp, assault the Northumbrian besiegers at night, and capture the king's brother, Aethelwulf. In a meeting with the king, Ragnar demands 2,000 pounds of gold and silver as a price for the Vikings' departure. Aelle agrees but demands that one Viking be baptised a Christian, and to Floki's scorn, Rollo agrees. Instead of paying the ransom, Aelle has his men attack Ragnar's camp, but they are bloodily repelled, ending with Rollo finishing off several Saxons single-handedly, in an attempt to prove he's still faithful to his gods. After Ragnar sends Aethelwulf's corpse to Aelle, the king finally pays the ransom but swears vengeance upon Ragnar as he watches the raiders depart. Meanwhile, back in Scandinavia, Lagertha rules in Ragnar's stead, accepts Siggy's offer of service, and suffers a miscarriage. | ||||||
8 | 8 | "Sacrifice" | Ken Girotti | Michael Hirst | April 21, 2013 | |
As Lagertha is unable to conceive another son, Ragnar takes his family and followers to the temple at Uppsala to attend a great rite to the Æsir and Vanir. He pledges fealty to King Horik, who charges Ragnar with an embassy to Jarl Borg, a rival encroaching on Horik's lands. Siggy chides Rollo for not paying attention to his own advancement and sleeping with other women. Priests question Athelstan, now in norse garb, about his faith. Athelstan denies Christ three times. They discern that despite his claims, he has not renounced Christianity, and they declare him unfit to be sacrificed to the gods. Leif, Ragnar's follower, volunteers in Athelstan's place for this single honour and is sacrificed by King Horik at the climax of the rite together with eight other men and numerous animals. | ||||||
9 | 9 | "All Change" | Ken Girotti | Michael Hirst | April 28, 2013 | |
Ragnar's embassy to Jarl Borg in Götaland fails, as King Horik rejects a compromise settlement about the contested land. Driven by ambition and jealousy, Rollo agrees to support Borg against Ragnar. In Kattegat, a disease kills many inhabitants, including Lagertha's daughter, Gyda, and Siggy's daughter, Thyri. Lagertha asks the seer about Ragnar and her future but the seer refuses as he only sees misery. Underway, Ragnar meets and is seduced by the princess Aslaug; eventually, she reveals she carries his child. |
An Irish-Canadian co-production presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Vikings was developed and produced by Octagon Films and Take 5 Productions. Morgan O'Sullivan, Sheila Hockin, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, James Flynn, John Weber, and Michael Hirst are credited as executive producers. This season was produced by Steve Wakefield and Keith Thompson. Bill Goddard and Séamus McInerney are co-producers. [2]
The production team for this season includes casting directors Frank and Nuala Moiselle, costume designer Joan Bergin, visual effects supervisors Julian Parry and Dominic Remane, stunt action designers Franklin Henson and Richard Ryan, composer Trevor Morris, production designer Tom Conroy, editors Aaron Marshall for the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth episodes, and Michele Conroy for the second, fourth, sixth and eighth episodes, and cinematographer John Bartley. PJ Dillon served as second unit director of photography. [2]
The Vikings (Original Television Series Soundtrack) | |
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Soundtrack album by | |
Released | June 21, 2013 |
Genre | Soundtrack |
Length | 76:49 |
Label | Sony Music Entertainment |
The musical score for the first season was composed by Trevor Morris in collaboration with Steven Richard Davis, Steve Tavaglione, Brian Kilgore, Tina Guo and Mel Wesson. The opening sequence is accompanied by the song "If I Had a Heart" by Fever Ray.
The soundtrack album was released on June 21, 2013 by Sony Music Entertainment. [3]
Additional non-original music by Norwegian music group Wardruna is featured in the episodes "Trial" and "Sacrifice". The featured tracks—which were not included in the soundtrack release—are "Fehu", "Ár var alda", "Heimta Thurs", "Dagr", "Laukr", and "Løyndomsriss". [2]
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "If I Had a Heart" | Fever Ray | 3:47 |
2. | "Battle Field" |
| 1:58 |
3. | "The Eye of Odin" |
| 0:59 |
4. | "Of Fathers and Sons" |
| 0:43 |
5. | "Journey to Kattegat" |
| 1:30 |
6. | "Northern Lights / Entry to Kattegat" |
| 2:09 |
7. | "The Sunstone" |
| 1:57 |
8. | "You Shall Not Enter Valhalla" |
| 1:26 |
9. | "Meeting Floki" |
| 2:20 |
10. | "Ragnar's Sail" |
| 1:26 |
11. | "Ragnar Recruits" |
| 1:50 |
12. | "Seduction" |
| 1:49 |
13. | "Vikings Set Sail" |
| 1:02 |
14. | "North Sea Storm" |
| 1:16 |
15. | "Madness Takes Hold" |
| 1:51 |
16. | "Vikings Reach Land" |
| 1:42 |
17. | "Vikings Attack Village" |
| 1:34 |
18. | "Floki's Fire" |
| 1:21 |
19. | "Vikings Sail Home" |
| 1:35 |
20. | "Vikings in Hexham" |
| 2:42 |
21. | "Mano e Mano" |
| 1:22 |
22. | "Battle on the Beach" |
| 3:30 |
23. | "Athelstan Asks for Freedom" |
| 1:57 |
24. | "Ragnar Challenges the Earl" |
| 1:32 |
25. | "Making a Deal" |
| 1:02 |
26. | "Earl Accepts the Challenge" |
| 2:49 |
27. | "Ragnar Fights the Earl" |
| 3:17 |
28. | "Sending the Earl to Valhalla" |
| 1:48 |
29. | "Ragnar Takes the Throne" |
| 1:15 |
30. | "The Angel of Death" |
| 2:01 |
31. | "Lagertha Oversees Dispute" |
| 1:40 |
32. | "Vikings Attack" |
| 2:31 |
33. | "Rollo is Baptised" |
| 2:12 |
34. | "Rollo Left Behind" |
| 2:41 |
35. | "Ragnar Meets the Naked Woman" |
| 2:21 |
36. | "The Ash Tree" |
| 1:11 |
37. | "Aslaug Is with Child" |
| 1:46 |
38. | "An Uncertain World" |
| 6:57 |
Total length: | 76:49 |
The first season of Vikings received positive reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 81% approval rating with an average rating of 6.9/10 based on 27 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Vikings makes up for its lack of historical accuracy with a heaping helping of violence, romance, and striking visuals". [4] Metacritic assigned a score of 71 based on 20 reviews. [5]
IGN gave the season an overall score of 7/10, stating: "While parts of the story felt rushed and sparsely told, Vikings still gave us a good first season outing." [6]
Northumbria was an early medieval Anglian kingdom in what is now Northern England and South Scotland.
Ragnar Lodbrok, according to legends, was a Viking hero and a Swedish and Danish king.
Ivar the Boneless, also known as Ivar Ragnarsson, was a Viking leader who invaded England and Ireland. According to the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, he was the son of Aslaug and her husband Ragnar Loðbrok, and was the brother of Björn Ironside, Halvdan, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, and Ragnvald. However, it is not known whether or not this is historically accurate. Ivar is sometimes regarded as the same person as Ímar, a Viking king of Dublin between 870 and 873. He might have been born in Uppsala, Sweden in about 787.
Ælla was King of Northumbria, a kingdom in medieval England, during the middle of the 9th century. Sources on Northumbrian history in this period are limited, and so Ælla's ancestry is not known, and the dating of the beginning of his reign is questionable.
Jessalyn Sarah Gilsig is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Meredith Gordon in Heroes, Kayley in Quest for Camelot, Lauren Davis in Boston Public, Gina Russo in Nip/Tuck, Terri Schuester in Glee, and as Siggy Haraldson in Vikings.
Ivan Blakeley Kaye is an English actor and producer. His international fame came with roles in historical drama shows like the Duke of Milan in all three seasons of The Borgias, and King Aelle in the first four Seasons of History channel's series Vikings. More recent projects include action thriller Gunpowder Milkshake, the series pilot for Amazon's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, the first British original Disney+ series Wedding Season and a leading role in the Irish comedy feature film Apocalypse Clown. In the UK, he is also widely known for many TV roles, including stints on Bad Girls and Bugs, and his role as Bryan in the comedy series The Green Green Grass.
The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Viking Great Army, was a coalition of Scandinavian warriors who invaded England in 865 AD. Since the late 8th century, the Vikings had been engaging in raids on centres of wealth, such as monasteries. The Great Heathen Army was much larger and aimed to conquer and occupy the four kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex.
The Last Kingdom is the first historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2004. This story introduces Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Saxon noble who is kidnapped by Danish Vikings as a young child and is assimilated into their culture, religion and language before a series of events lead him into the service of King Alfred of Wessex and his participation in multiple battles, including the notable Battle of Cynwit before the book's conclusion.
Lagertha, according to legend, was a Viking ruler and shield-maiden from what is now Norway, and the onetime wife of the famous Viking Ragnar Lodbrok. Her tale was recorded by the chronicler Saxo in the 12th century. According to the historian Judith Jesch, Saxo's tales about warrior women are largely fictional; other historians wrote that they may have a basis in tales about the Norse deity Thorgerd.
Vikings is a historical drama television series created and written by Michael Hirst. A co-production between Canada and Ireland, the series originally aired on the History Channel, premiering on 3 March 2013 and concluding on 30 December 2020, when the second half of the sixth season was released in its entirety on Amazon Prime Video in the Republic of Ireland, ahead of its broadcast on History in Canada from January 1 to March 3, 2021. A sequel series, titled Vikings: Valhalla, premiered on Netflix on February 25, 2022.
The second season of the historical drama television series Vikings premiered on February 27, 2014 on History in Canada, and concluded on May 1, 2014, consisting of ten episodes. The series broadly follows the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and later those of his sons. The first season of the series begins at the start of the Viking Age, marked by the Lindisfarne raid in 793.
The third season of the historical drama television series Vikings premiered on February 19, 2015 on History in Canada, and concluded on April 23, 2015, consisting of ten episodes. The series broadly follows the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and later those of his sons. The first season of the series begins at the start of the Viking Age, marked by the Lindisfarne raid in 793.
The Last Kingdom is a British historical drama television series created and developed for television by Stephen Butchard, based on The Saxon Stories series of novels by Bernard Cornwell. The series premiered on 10 October 2015 on BBC Two. After co-producing the second series, Netflix acquired the series in 2018. The series concluded on 9 March 2022 after five series for a total of 46 episodes. A feature-length sequel that concluded the series story, titled Seven Kings Must Die, premiered on 14 April 2023 on Netflix.
The fourth season of the historical drama television series Vikings premiered on February 18, 2016 on History in Canada. The series broadly follows the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and later those of his sons. The first season of the series begins at the start of the Viking Age, marked by the Lindisfarne raid in 793.
The fifth season of the historical drama television series Vikings premiered on 29 November 2017 on History in Canada. The series broadly follows the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and later those of his sons.
"All His Angels" is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of History's historical drama television series Vikings, and the 44th episode of the series overall. Directed by Ciarán Donnelly and written by Michael Hirst, it aired on December 28, 2016.
The sixth and final season of the historical drama television series Vikings premiered on December 4, 2019, on History in Canada. The series broadly follows the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and later those of his sons.
Ragnar "Lothbrok" Sigurdsson is a main character in the historical drama series Vikings, created by Canadian network History. He is portrayed by Travis Fimmel and is based on Ragnar Lodbrok, a 9th-century Viking farmer and warrior who raided Anglo-Saxon villages in England.