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We’ve known two things about ‘Vikings’ since January this year. Firstly, we’ve known that the sixth season of the show is going to be the very last. Secondly, we’ve known that this final season would be coming to us at some point during 2019. There’s now less than half of 2019 left, and still no confirmation of an official date for the show to air, but if you’re a ‘Vikings’ fan, we have some good news. It’s getting closer.
Katheryn Winnick, who plays Lagertha Lothbrok in the show, took to Instagram this week to give fans a little sneak peek of what to expect from the final season. With so many plot lines up in the air, and so many tales that will hopefully be brought to a satisfactory conclusion, tension has been building among the fandom. The poor reception to the final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ has put viewers on edge – with such a major show proving capable of disappointing its loyal audience, nerves were growing that the producers of ‘Vikings’ were growing fearful of a similar reaction, and were holding off on launching a trailer. What Winnick had to show us wasn’t extensive or all that insightful, but it was enough to start the hype building again, an assure us that the wait will soon be over.
For Winnick and the rest of the cast, ‘Vikings’ is already history. Filming on the show wrapped in 2018, with Season 5 and Season 6 being filmed almost back-to-back. What we can see in the clip suggests that it’s going to be as brutal, inspiring, and tragic as ever. Michael Hirst has gone on record as saying that he’s satisfied with the final product, and that alone may be a reason to believe that we’ll be happier with the finale of ‘Vikings’ than we were with ‘Game of Thrones.’ The latter developed problems when the TV show moved ahead of the source material originally written in the novels by George R. R. Martin, and onto plots written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss based on notes given to them by Martin. In the case of ‘Vikings,’ the whole show from start to finish has been written by Hirst, according to his own vision. There’s nobody better to give the characters a perfect ending than the man who created them, and so there’s no reason to suspect the last season will be anything other than fantastic.
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On top of the fact that the show has remained in Hirst’s hands, there’s also the length of the final season to consider. ‘Game of Thrones’ felt compressed and rushed as it came to a close, with several years’ worth of carefully constructed plots being condensed into six episodes. ‘Vikings’ still has a whole twenty to play with, which should mean that the story gets a chance to breathe, and there’s enough time to balance character moments with dramatic action. We’ve all been deeply invested with the tale of Ragnar and his sons, and none of us want to let them go, but when they do bow out for the final time, their stories should feel rounded and complete.
When the end does come, it won’t be the end for the ‘Vikings’ universe. The show has been an unexpected ratings hit for MGM and History, and so they understandably don’t want to kill it off without giving fans something more to look forward to. The ‘Vikings’ merchandise range is huge, ranging from official action figures to an official Mobile Slots game. Its influence at mobile slots websites has been especially significant; as well as an ‘official’ casino game based on the show, there have also been a number of Viking-themed casino games ‘inspired’ by it. That suggests a strong interest in the topic, and one which people are willing to buy into with their hard earned money.
In pursuit of that money, there will be a spin-off show made, which Hirst is already working on. The writer has been keen to avoid giving out details, but did say that the connection between the shows will be tight enough that the six seasons of the original Vikings may eventually be called ‘Vikings: Part One.’ Confusingly, he’s also suggested that the final episode of season six will be the final time we see the major characters of the show’s current incarnation, so it’s unclear as to how the shows could be directly connected. Presumably, we’ll see something within this final run of twenty episodes which will act as a bridge from the show to its eventual spin-off. History has yet to confirm that it will be the network that airs the spin-off, but unless the final season is a complete disaster, it’s hard to imagine that they wouldn’t pick it up.
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With previews, sneak peeks, and other nuggets of information finally beginning to leak, we suspect that we’ll shortly have confirmation of when the sixth season of ‘Vikings’ will air. The entertainment rumor mill suggests that a full trailer will air at Comic-con in San Diego, which is in mid-July. If we had to guess, we’d say that means the full season is likely to start in late August or early September.
In just a few months time, ‘Vikings’ will be over, and we’ll be saying goodbye to the characters we’ve grown to know and love. As with the final season of any show, we’re nervous. Anything can happen in the last season – including the death of one or all of the characters who we once believed were so integral to the plot that they couldn’t possibly be killed! Is Lagertha destined to die? Will Ragnar perish tragically and heroically? Hirst has already told us that we’ll ‘cry all the tears we have to cry’ by the time all is said and done, so we’re not expecting a happy ending! We can’t wait to find out, but we’re going to have to sit tight a little longer. In the meantime, we intend to enjoy the gossip and the speculation.
