Vikings

[mochakitty]

From Wikipedia:

Vikings is an historical drama series created by Michael Hirst and produced for the American cable television channel History. Filmed in Ireland, the series is inspired by the epic saga of Viking King Ragnar Lodbrok. One of the most popular Norse heroes, Ragnar was a great Viking commander and the scourge of France and England. Vikings premiered on March 3, 2013.

Plot overview

The show tells the tale of the epic and violent world of the mighty Norsemen who raided, traded and explored during the early medieval period. It follows the exploits of semi-legendary viking figure Ragnar Lodbrok and the gripping sagas of Ragnar’s Viking crew and family as he struggles to become ‘king’ of a large part of modern day Scandinavia and Europe.

The show will tell the tale of the driven young Viking warrior, Ragnar Lodbrok, played by actor Travis Fimmel, who longs to discover civilizations across the seas. With the help of his visionary friend Floki, played by Swedish actor Gustaf Skarsgård, they build a brand new generation of faster and sleeker ships. Jarl Haraldson, played by Golden Globe-winning actor Gabriel Byrne, is Ragnar's lord and adversary. A man of little vision, the Jarl is suspect of Ragnar’s ambitions and goes head to head with him in a struggle for supremacy.

Cast

Main cast

Travis Fimmel as Ragnar, the first great Viking leader, a man of both history and myth.
Clive Standen as Rollo, Ragnar’s impulsive, wild and carefree brother whose loyalty is at times questionable but his skills as a warrior are formidable.
Gabriel Byrne as Jarl Haraldson, the ruler of the county.
Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha, Ragnar’s first wife and famous shield maiden who often fights alongside him.
Jessalyn Gilsig as Siggy, Jarl Haraldson’s beautiful and politcally savvy wife.
George Blagden as Athelstan, an Anglo-Saxon monk captured by Ragnar on his first raid on England.
Gustaf Skarsgård as Floki, a close friend of Ragnar’s who is an eccentric jokester yet an inventive, creative boat-builder. Believed to be a descendent of the Norse god Loki, Floki designs and builds the prototype for a new generation of Viking ships.

Supporting cast

Thorbjørn Harr as Jarl Borg
Vladimir Kulich as Eric
Donal Logue as King Horik
Ivan Kaye as King Ælla of Northumbria
Maude Hirst as Helga
Eric Higgins as one of Ragnor Lodbrok’s warriors, Knut
Gerard McCarthy as Bronsted
Amy De Bhrun
Sam Smith
Bill Gibson
Kevin Murray

Production

Vikings is an international co-production being co-produced by World 2000 and Take 5 Productions. Hirst has previously worked with World 2000 and Take 5 Productions on The Tudors and The Borgias. The series began filming in July 2012 at Ashford Studios, a newly built studio facility in Ireland.[8] Swedish award-winning music and advertising director Johan Renck (The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad) directs the first three episodes with Ciarán Donnelly and Ken Girotti (Rescue Me, Copper) also directing three episodes each. The production team includes Emmy Award-winners John Bartley (cinematographer of The X Files, Lost), costume designer Joan Bergin (The Tudors, David Copperfield), production designer Tom Conroy (The Tudors) and composer Trevor Morris (The Borgias).

On August 16 of 2012, scenes with longships were filmed at Luggala, in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains.

Broadcast

Vikings premiered on Sunday, March 3 on History in the United States, and also debuted on History in Canada.

Trailer

Poster

Official Website

Official Facebook

Official Twitter

Vikings @ IMDb.com

[Deleted]

Oh, I didn't know about this! It sounds awesome. I'll have to check and see of it's on demand.

[mementomori]

There's a Skarsgard in the cast (Gustaf) so that makes it required viewing .

[Deleted]

And he's a rather good one (never seen Alexander in anything) so I'll be checking this out. :-)

[Mugsy]

I liked it, great adventury fun. In spite of the obstacles, we obviously know that Ragnar does get to sail west eventually. I never heard of Ragnar though, I have heard about the Viking Erik the Red.

It's also good to see history, even in fictionalized form, address that Columbus did not actually "discover" America, that he wasn't the first European in the New World. Surely they don't still teach that in school.

[MrsCatHead]

i'm hoping this is okay for 14yr olds. My kids LOVES Vikings.

[Karen]

It's nothing exceptional yet, but good enough that I'll keep watching. The beginning isn't awful like Spartacus was and that managed to become a good show over time.

Mar 5, 2013 23:40:05 GMT -4 MrsCatHead said:

i'm hoping this is okay for 14yr olds. My kids LOVES Vikings.

It depends on what kind of violence you and they are comfortable with. There was an attempted rape in the first episode; since this is a show about vikings I expect there will be more in future episodes, and not all characters will be able to defend themselves like Lagertha did.

[Strawberry]

Oh, I missed this.

Speaking of Vikings, vote for my friend Dr. Karl H.Seigfried's Norse Mythology Blog for best religious blog. He won last year and his articles are as great as ever.

[Mugsy]

Still enjoying this, but bush. Exploring the west means Britain and not the New World? What kind of Viking epic is that?

[robneville]

Mar 15, 2013 20:37:31 GMT -4 Mugsy said:

Exploring the west means Britain and not the New World? What kind of Viking epic is that?

Considering that they are playing it fairly realistically ( with the attack at Lindisfarne being the first recorded encounter ) if they chose the New World ( and kept to reality ) the show would be - a bunch of norsemen land at Newfoundland, make a settlement, find the going tough, keep their distance from and ignore the native people who could have made things easier for them, spend two harsh winters, make no impact on the place at all, then leave and never come back.

Not exactly as exciting as raiding up and down England and Ireland, creating large settlements and trading towns in England, merging with and marrying into the local population and becoming a significant factor in the history of England that can still be seen all over the place today.

Plus according to native history the few encounters with the norse were not exactly of the hack and slash kind which makes for "exciting" television. Their early encounters with the Britons on the other hand were extremely bloody, and if the first two episodes are any indication all that blood will be glaringly digital.