Vikings has officially charted its trip to TV series Valhalla.
History is set to turn a major scripted television page – likely next year – with Vikings season 6 now destined to serve as the show’s final outing, according to Deadline. While Vikings is currently in the middle of airing its season 5 run, heading to a January 30th season closer, season 6 is already set as a 20-episode outing, which officially sets the number of offerings the series has left in stone at 89 episodes. The final episodes of Vikings will most likely air in late-2019 through early-2020.
However, don’t expect History to burn down the entire franchise in a blazing Viking funeral, since the cable network is already in the process of developing a spin-off series, set to continue the story of Vikings. While said plans are still in the earliest of stages, without even a basic premise to offer, creator Michael Hirst intends to collaborate with Jeb Stuart, a writer who’s worked on the screenplays for major back-in-the-day films such as Die Hard, Leviathan and The Fugitive.
Vikings premiered on March 3rd, 2013 on History; a bellwether arrival for the cable channel formerly known as The History Channel, primarily known for airing historical documentaries and other classroom TV cart fodder. Indeed, Vikings, created, written and executive-produced by Michael Hirst – already known for writing historical epics such as shows Camelot and The Tudors, and the Cate Blanchett Elizabeth films – provided a true peak television offering to an unlikely basic cable platform, flourishing as History’s all-time top scripted series.
Interestingly enough, the series proved itself to be durable after season 4 saw the exit of its main star, Travis Fimmel, delivering an impactful demise to his character, the embattled Viking ruler Ragnar Lothbrok. The move left Katheryn Winnick’s Lagertha (the character’s warrior woman wife) and Alexander Ludwig’s Bjorn Lothbrok (the character’s son and heir) to carry the ball; something that, by most accounts, they have achieved successfully.
Vikings is heading toward a finale for its (now-penultimate) season on January 30th.