STACK #192 Oct 2020

TV FEATURE

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After five seasons of brave deeds, bloody battles and intense sibling rivalry, the saga of Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons is coming to an end in the sixth and final season of Vikings . Words Scott Hocking

T he penultimate ten episodes that comprise Vikings : Season 6, Part 1 sees Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig) now ruling

LAGERTHA DIRECTS After six years of playing fan-favourite Lagertha, shield-maiden and former queen of Ragnar, Canadian actress Katheryn Winnick steps behind the camera for the first time to direct the eighth episode of season six, Valhalla Can Wait . “As an actress, you look at your story as your little movie, but it’s a completely different perspective and learning curve to get behind the camera,” said Winnick during the Comic-Con@Home panel. “This show, in particular, each episode feels more like a movie and you have the creative freedom to play and have something epic on screen. It was an incredible experience directing 6.08, and invaluable.”

Kattegat, while his tyrant brother, Ivar the Boneless (Alex Høgh Andersen), has joined forces with the

equally mad Prince Oleg in Kiev, who is plotting an invasion of Scandinavia – with Ivar’s assistance, of course. Speaking with Variety , showrunner and writer Michael Hirst revealed that after six seasons, he believed he had achieved all that he wanted to say about Ragnar and

Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig) and Lagertha (KatherynWinnick)

his sons. Describing the first half of season six as “the most ambitious and intensely emotional episodes of Vikings ever,” he added, “We have new worlds, new landscapes, new characters… and the scope just seems to be much bigger, as are a lot of the issues.” Hirst also considers the final season to be the series’ best to date. “It’s incredibly strong. Production did us proud and it looks

On the matter of the series’ polarising villain, Ivar, Hirst promises that after pushing the character to the limit in season five, fans will learn a lot more about the crippled despot and self-proclaimed “God” – and perhaps feel a degree of sympathy – through his alliance with Oleg. “Oleg is fascinated by Ivar and he wants to know about him. That includes finding out whether he’s scared of anything, what his anxieties are, what really motivates him. “We’re going to see other aspects of his character and things we didn’t expect from him. I’m very pleased with the way his character deepens and changes. He’s still Ivar and he’s still unpredictable and crippled in many ways, but we do see these other aspects in him emerging. Clearly he hasn’t been a very successful ruler. We know the obstacles he’s had to overcome in order to

The show is so big now that when we had battles in season six, we would have up to 900 extras

quite astonishing. The show is so big now that when we had battles in season six, we would have up to 900 extras. We would be traveling around with sometimes up to 1500 people, going to locations. So the scale of it has multiplied.”

Oleg (Danila Kozlovsky and Ivar (Alex Høgh Andersen)

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16 OCTOBER 2020