In television today, there has been much fascination surrounding period drama. That may explain the success of “The Crown” on Netflix or the TV series, “Outlander” by Starz. Of course, you also can’t talk about period dramas on television without mentioning “Vikings” on The History Channel.
Created by Michael Hirst, “Vikings” strives for some historical accuracy. As Hirst has told Sky, “It’s essentially a drama, but within the limits of drama it is as authentic and real as I can make it.”
The show has gone on to achieve 12 Emmy nominations throughout its run, for achievements in makeup, hairstyling, visual effects, and sound editing. While a seventh season doesn’t seem possible, we still thought it would be fun to learn what Katheryn Winnick and the rest of the cast have said about working on the show...
15 Even With Her Extensive Background In Tae Kwon Do, Katheryn Winnick Had To Work With A Trainer For Her Role On The Show
“Tae Kwon Do and karate is based on the art of footwork and handwork, whereas a shield maiden uses her shield and sword as her weapons. That was a new art form that I had to try to master, in a short period of time,” Winnick told Collider:
“Physically, I definitely got a chance to work with a trainer and a fight coordinator to try to get it down. I had to learn how to use my sword and shield as an extension of my arms, and an extension of me as a warrior, so that was different.”
14 Alexander Ludwig Said He Landed His Role On The Show After One Of The Executive Producers Saw Him In ‘The Hunger Games’ Films
“It’s funny how this actually came about. One of the executive producers on the show had seen me in The Hunger Games and had seen that I had a strong resemblance to Nathan [O’Toole], who played the original Bjorn, and that I resembled Travis [Fimmel], as well,” Ludwig told Collider. “She contacted my team and brought up this show and said, ‘Is Alexander doing anything?’ I had just finished Lone Survivor, at that time. We had a talk.”
13 Clive Standen Originally Auditioned For The Character Of Ragnar
“I auditioned to be Ragnar, and when Travis Fimmel got the role, Michael changed the part of Rollo to suit me,” Standen told Inc:
“Making Ragnar and Rollo brothers was a license we took; Michael initially wrote him as Ragnar's hard drinking, wisecracking, slightly psychotic fifty-ear-old cousin. Making us brothers was a clever plot device that enabled us to take Rollo and smash him into a thousand pieces and then slowly put him back together again.”
12 Alex Høgh Andersen Had Gone Into The Audition For The 'Three Other Brothers', Not Ivar
Andersen told Icon, “I’m pretty sure that production only had one usable take of me doing Ivar … I was only auditioning for the three other brothers not Ivar, and I did that for five hours until our casting agent Frank Marcel comes down and pokes me on the shoulder and asks to reach for Ivar … all of a sudden I had to learn and enter a new character and entire new scene within the next half hour and get up in front of the big guns.”
11 At The End Of The First Season, Alyssa Sutherland And Show Creator, Michael Hirst, Discussed How Her Character And Ragnar Felt ‘Destined’ To Be Together
“When [creator] Michael Hirst and I talked about Aslaug at the end of the first season, we weren’t talking about manipulation, we weren’t talking about this woman with this real ulterior motive,” Sutherland told The Mary Sue. “We were talking about Aslaug and Ragnar feeling like they were destined to be with one another.”
10 Travis Fimmel Revealed That They Dealt With ‘Horrific’ Weather Conditions While Filming The Show In Ireland
“Just the weather in Ireland. But it really adds to the value of the show, but it was… we never had a good day with the weather. We were there for summer,” Fimmel told Daily Actor:
“We started in July and the weather was just horrific all the time. It’s like that first fight scene, it just pissed down rain the whole day. And, you know, we don’t have the budget to… or the time, because we’re trying to beat winter too, then it’s just ridiculous to shoot.”
9 Despite His Fear Of Horses, Gustaf Skarsgård Says He Can “Really Get Into It” The Moment The Cameras Roll
When discussing his fear of horses, Skarsgård told Collider, “Like, always, when I get onto horseback, I’m kind of terrified of being up there. But once they call action, I really get into it and I’m not afraid.” The actor later added, “I got thrown off a few times (when) I was a kid. Also, I’ve also worked a lot of historical stuff back in Sweden and there’s always conflict with horses.”
8 Clive Standen Revealed That The Cast Does Its Own Stunts
“We do all our own stunts. We don’t have the budget of Game of Thrones, but we make it very realistic,” Standen told History. “You see the hurt and anger on our faces because we’ve really been smashed in the face… We pride ourselves on making it as real as possible. The key to the show’s success is making characters who have done questionable things the heroes of the story.”
7 Travis Fimmel Said That Fighting Against CGI Orcs And Other Creatures Can Be ‘Awkward’
“You're talking to no one. But a lot of time with motion capture, you have an actor in front of you, which is great,” Fimmel told Esquire. “They're in their pajamas or whatever the suit is, and you can look in their eyes. You're sort of blown away when you see what you were doing on set, and you see the film in the end and what they can do with the CGI and motion capture.”
6 During His First Three Months Of Filming The Show, Marco Ilsø Said He Was Sworn To Secrecy
“There’s a lot of secrecy around the series, so when I first got the role I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone,” Ilsø told Scan magazine. “As I was going to Ireland to film for three months, I had to tell everyone that I was just taking a bit of time off to go travelling – I think a lot of people thought that was a bit weird.”
5 Alyssa Sutherland Said She Was Given Six Weeks Advance Notice Regarding Her Character’s Death
“I think it was about six weeks heads up I was given. We were filming episode 9 and 10 when I was told,” Alyssa Sutherland told Entertainment Weekly. “One of the producers came up to me on set. The cameras were being set up to start filming a scene I was in. I had hair and makeup around me doing touch-ups. The producer came up to me and said, ‘Alyssa, I’d love a quick chat with you. When you’re done here, we’ll go for a walk.’”
4 Jordan Patrick Smith Accidentally Punched A Girl While Shooting A Battle Scene
“There’s always mistakes. The only person I have ever hurt was unfortunately a young girl,” the Vikings cast member revealed to Metro. “I was supposed to punch her in the face with the back of a sword. She was supposed to go right, and I was supposed to go left, but I went right and she went right and I got her straight in between the eyes.”
The actor added, “I could see the eyes starting to wobble and I was like, ‘gosh she’s not going too well.’”
3 Alex Høgh Andersen Hasn’t Had To Do Much Weapons Training For The Show
"I sadly haven’t gotten to do much fighting except the training scene with all of the brothers in Episode 4.11. Ivar is the strategist organizing the battle, he’s never really in them," Andersen told Talk Nerdy With Us. "I don’t think he would be to much use on a battlefield, but only having your upper body to work with is always a challenge. Mainly because it’s so limiting and far away from yourself."
2 Moe Dunford Said That Michael Hirst Would Take ‘Board Notes’ From The Cast
“Michael Hirst, the main writer would take on board notes from actors. I only ever went after two things,” Dunford told Irish Times. “One was that I’d love my own fight scene to give the character a bit of grit. And the other was to have it out with the man who played my father. So there was [an] arc there. I was ready to go. My character had aged about 20 years over the four. I wasn’t far behind.”
1 For Alexander Ludwig, Working On The Show ‘Plucked’ Him From Possible Film Projects
“Because I don’t think anybody expected Vikings to have the global success that it did, they upped it to a 20-episode series, which meant that I was completely plucked out of any other opportunities,” Ludwig told The Hollywood Reporter:
“That being said, I’m so grateful for the job; it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. But it definitely made it difficult to do anything close to this magnitude, because a role like this requires a lot of time and attention.”