Vikings: Valhalla – Picture: Netflix
Vikings: Valhalla, the long-anticipated sequel to MGM’s Vikings, recently dropped on Netflix. Fans of the series will be delighted to learn that the second season has already been filmed, and we’re expecting the series to return later this year. Here’s everything we know so far about Vikings: Valhalla season 2 on Netflix.
Vikings: Valhalla is a Netflix Original historical drama created by Michael Hirst and a spin-off of the popular History Channel series, Vikings. The series is produced by MGM Productions, like its predecessor which ran for six seasons.
The events of Vikings: Valhalla takes place one hundred years after the Great Viking army set sail for England, helmed by the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok who sought revenge for his death.
Has Vikings: Valhalla been renewed for a second season?
Not only has Vikings: Valhalla already been renewed for a second, but it has been announced ahead of time that Vikings: Valhalla has also been renewed for a third season.
The reason for this early renewal is the huge upfront order the show received when it was first announced. 24 episodes were ordered in total.
Netflix also acquired the licensing rights to the original Vikings series as part of this deal with Netflix UK and Netflix US still set to receive seasons 1-6 in a couple of years’ time.
Taking into consideration how popular the show’s predecessor, Vikings, was, Netflix is wildly confident that Vikings: Valhalla will be a huge hit for them.
What is the production status of Vikings: Valhalla season 2?
Official Production Status: Post-Production (Last Updated: 01/03/2022)
Subscribers will be delighted to learn that filming has already wrapped on the second season of Vikings: Valhalla. We previously reported in November 2021 that the production of the series has wrapped in Ireland.
Wicklow Town looking stunning this week during filming for Valhalla, a spin-off of ‘Vikings’!
Photo Credit: Egita Feldberga#Wicklow #HollywoodofEurope #Vikings#KeepDiscovering pic.twitter.com/YSQi1hOhnt
— Visit Wicklow (@visitwicklow) September 10, 2021
When is the Vikings: Valhalla season 2 release date?
At the time of publishing, Netflix hasn’t announced a release date for Vikings: Valhalla season 2. However, we can take an educated guess on when we can expect the second season to arrive.
With production wrapped on the second season in November 2021, we are most likely to see the second season arrive on Netflix before the end of 2022. At the earliest, we could see Vikings: Valhalla season 2 on Netflix by the Summer of 2022.
What to expect from the second season of Vikings: Valhalla?
Just like the show’s predecessor, Vikings: Valhalla takes many creative liberties by trading historical accuracy for action and drama. However, there are many significant recorded events that happened during this period of history that we can expect to see in season 2 and beyond.
Leif the Lucky Red?
The Greenlander’s journey to the east has brought much pain and sorrow upon Leif and his sister, Freydis. All of their comrades that set sail with them to Denmark eventually died. The biggest death to impact Leif was Lif, his lover, and fellow warrior that died during the invasion of Kattegat.
Lif was the one person who kept Leif grounded and stopped him from becoming like his famous berserker father, Erik the Red. Her death saw Leif snap, resulting in the explorer donning a pair of dual axes, no armor, and single-handedly taking down an entire group of Viking warriors without breaking a sweat. His war cry signified that like his father before him, Leif is embracing his blood-thirsty berserker nature.
Fate is often cruel, and if Leif follows in the footsteps of his father he may find himself banished or exiled from the Viking world, forcing the famed explorer to sail west and establish Vinland, the first European settlement in the Americas.
Pictured: Sam Corlett as Leif Erikson
Harold, the future King of Norway?
One of the biggest creative liberties that Vikings: Valhalla have taken with history is the early appearance of Harald Sigurdson, more famously known as Harold Hardrada.
Harold’s exploits in the Viking world are legendary, but none of them took place during the events of Viking: Valhalla as the future King of Norway was but a baby, born to Asta and Sigurd in Ringerike, Norway, in 1015, one year after the destruction of London Bridge.
The Harald depicted in Valhalla has the open support of King Cnut but with the fate of his half-brother Olaf currently unknown, not to mention fleeing Kattegat with Freydis, Harald’s journey to becoming king still remains distant.
Pictured: Leo Suter as Harold Hardrada
King Cnut, and the North Sea Empire
Aided by his ambitious wife Emma of Normandy, and his father Sweyn Forkbeard, King Cnut’s vision of a Great Northern Empire is firmly within reach.
Queen Emma’s tactful ploy against Queen Ælfgifu gave Sweyn enough time to find his son’s fleet and set sail to Kattegat. With Ælfgifu now out of the picture, England is firmly under Cnut’s rule.
Cnut was already fighting a war in Denmark but lacked his fleet thanks to Ælfgifu. With his father, Sweyn now aiding the defense of Kattegat, it won’t be long before the Danes fall under the Norse king’s rule.
Once Cnut is the King of Denmark, his dream of forming a North Sea empire will become a reality.
But, like all great empires and kingdoms, when its ruler dies, and land is there to be divided, expect to see many ambitious individuals make a move on all three of Cnut’s kingdoms.
Pictured: Bradley Freegard as King Canute
Freydis the Last?
With the destruction of Upsala and the rise of Christianity in the Viking world, the worship of the old gods grows weaker by the day. Freydis and the Greenlanders are worshipers of the old ways, but even Leif has taken a keen interest in Christianity as a means to explain all of the miraculous ways he survives death.
It’s still unclear what is meant by “the Last,” and what it means for Freydis. This could suggest that Freydis may be the last person capable of spreading the worship of the Old Ways and her destiny may lie in becoming a high priestess or a seer.
Pictured: Frida Gustavsson as Freydis (left) and Caroline Henderson as Jarl Haakon (right)
What is the episode count for season 2?
Every season of Vikings: Valhalla will consist of eight episodes. In total there will be 24 episodes of Vikings: Valhalla spread across 3 seasons.
Are you looking forward to the release of Vikings: Valhalla season 2 on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!