About Vikings Season 1 – TV Series

Vikings Season 1

Vikings is a historical drama television series created and written by Michael Hirst for the Canadian television channel History. 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.

Vikings Season 1

STORY

Episodes 01

“Rites of Passage”

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 convinces Ragnar to finally move on with his plan.

Episodes 02

“Wrath of the Northmen”

After gathering volunteers, Ragnar, Rollo, and Floki embark on an unauthorized 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.

Episodes 03

“Dispossessed”

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 authorizes 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 incites a battle in which the Northumbrians are slaughtered.

Episodes 04

“Trial”

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.

Episodes 05

“Raid”

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.

Episodes 06

“Burial of the Dead”

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 accepts Rollo’s protection and his proposal to marry an Earl – himself. 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.

Episodes 07

“A King’s Ransom”

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.

Episodes 08

“Sacrifice”

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.

Episodes 09

“All Change”

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.

CAST

Travis Fimmel as Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking farmer and warrior who yearns to raid the rumoured riches of undiscovered England
Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha, Ragnar’s wife, and a shield-maiden
Clive Standen as Rollo, Ragnar’s brother
Jessalyn Gilsig as Siggy, Earl Haraldson’s wife
Gustaf Skarsgård as Floki, a gifted shipbuilder and Ragnar’s friend
Gabriel Byrne as Earl Haraldson, Earl of the settlement known as Kattegat, the home of Ragnar
George Blagden as Athelstan, an Anglo-Saxon monk captured by Ragnar on his first raid in England
Donal Logue as King Horik of Denmark
Alyssa Sutherland as Princess Aslaug, a love interest of Ragnar, claiming to be the daughter of the valkyrie Brynhildr
John Kavanagh as The Seer, the seiðmann of Kattegat
David Pearse as Svein, the loyal henchman of Earl Haraldson
Nathan O’Toole as Bjorn Ironside, Ragnar and Lagertha’s son
Ruby O’Leary as Gyda, Ragnar and Lagertha’s daughter
Eddie Elks as Olafur, a Viking warrior in the service of Earl Haraldson
Vladimir Kulich as Erik, elderly Viking and one of Ragnar’s warriors
Diarmaid Murtagh as Leif, one of Ragnar’s warriors and the son of Erik
Tadhg Murphy as Arne, one of Ragnar’s warriors; an archer with an eye-patch.
Jefferson Hall as Torstein, one of Ragnar’s warriors and closest friends
Jouko Ahola as Kauko, a Finnish Viking and one of Ragnar’s warriors
Eric Higgins as Knut Tjodolf, Earl Haraldson’s half-brother
Will Irvine as Brother Cenwulf, serving at the monastery of Lindisfarne
Carrie Crowley as Elisef, wife of Erik and mother of Leif
Sam Lucas Smith as Edwin, a Saxon
Ivan Kaye as King Aelle of Northumbria
Jonathon Kemp as Lord Wigea, an advisor of King Aelle
Peter Gaynor as Lord Edgar, an advisor of King Aelle
Elinor Crawley as Thyri, Earl Haraldson and Siggy’s daughter
Maude Hirst as Helga, Floki’s woman
Trevor Cooper as Earl Bjarni, Thyri’s husband-to-be
Angus MacInnes as Tostig, an old Viking warrior

PRODUCTION

Development

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.

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.