Vikings: Valhalla – Picture: Netflix
Vikings: Valhalla, the long-anticipated sequel to MGM’s Vikings dropped on Netflix in early 2022, and more is coming in January 2023. Here’s our big preview of everything we know about Vikings: Valhalla season 2.
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.
We’re going to go deep into what we know about season 2 below so if you’re looking for the highlights, here they are:
- The show will return for season 2 on January 12th, 2023
- The show will also return for a third season.
- Production on season 3 got underway in May 2022 and will conclude in late October 2022.
- Jeb Stuart continues his role as showrunner for seasons 2 & 3
- Sam Corlett (Leif Eriksson), Frida Gustavsson (Freydis Eriksdotter) and Leo Suter (Harald Sigurdsson) are confirmed to return for season 2.
Vikings: Valhalla. (L to R) Stanislav Callas as Jorundr, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Olaf Haraldsson in episode 208 of Vikings: Valhalla. Cr. Bernard Walsh/Netflix © 2022
When was Vikings: Valhalla 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 show’s huge upfront order 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 are still set to receive seasons 1-6 in a couple of years’ time.
Netflix reconfirmed that Vikings: Valhalla will return for two additional seasons on March 9th, 2022.
https://twitter.com/NetflixValhalla/status/1501588629625339907
Considering how popular the show’s predecessor, Vikings, was Netflix was clearly wildly confident that Vikings: Valhalla will be a huge hit for them.
At the Netflix TUDUM event, we were treated to our first look clip at the upcoming second season.
How well did Vikings: Valhalla perform on Netflix?
Thanks to Netflix Top 10 data we’ve got a pretty good insight into how well the show is performing. For its first two days on the platform, it registered 80.56 million hours watched making it the second most-watched show that week.
Between February 25th and April 3rd, 2022 (the show’s first 37 days available) the show has amassed 265,550,000 hours watched on Netflix globally.
| Week Period | Hours Viewed(M) | Rank | Week in Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 20th, 2022 to February 27th, 2022 | 80,560,000 | 2 | 1 |
| February 27th, 2022 to March 6th, 2022 | 113,380,000 (+41%) | 1 | 2 |
| March 6th, 2022 to March 13th, 2022 | 41,760,000 (-63%) | 4 | 3 |
| March 13th, 2022 to March 20th, 2022 | 19,800,000 (-53%) | 8 | 4 |
| March 27th, 2022 to April 3rd, 2022 | 10,050,000 (-49%) | 9 | 5 |
Making comparisons is pretty difficult with this new hourly data but we can see that Vikings: Valhalla performed favorably (at least in the first 2-3 weeks) compared to the final season of The Last Kingdom which also released in early 2022.
Nielsen data for Vikings: Valhalla Season 1
Nielsen every week publishes various top 10s (usually a month behind) that gives an insight into how well the show is performing in the United States.
Again, in the first week listed below, Vikings: Valhalla was only available for 2 days.
| Week | Rank That Week (Original Titles) | Minutes (Millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 02/21-02/27 | 8 | 796 |
| 02/28-03/06 | 2 | 1079 |
The show was a hit with critics with RottenTomatoes scoring it at 89% (classified as Certified Fresh) however audience scores are less favorable. On RottenTomatoes, the audience score as early April 2022 is 54%. On IMDb, the show is sitting at a much more favorable 7.2, with episode 8 having a score of 8.1.
The critical consensus is as follows:
“Reveling in the glory of straightforward adventure storytelling, Valhalla is a bloody good dramatization of Leif Eriksson’s conquests.”
The series was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy award.
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
Jeb Stuart confirmed that around the time of season 1 release that he was “finishing the editing of the last episode of season two”. That suggests that the show will be sitting completed for around a year before dropping.
Production is gearing up for season 3 too. As part of Netflix’s confirmation of the second and third season, they stated that production would begin in Spring 2022. We’ve learned that they’re gearing up throughout April with the view to begin filming in May 2022.
Speaking to DigitalSpy, Jeb Stuart told them that season 3 is “very exciting” and “my Vikings get out of Scandinavia, so we have lots of great surprises.”
When is the Vikings: Valhalla season 2 release date?
Netflix confirmed in November 2022 that the series would return for all eight episodes on January 12th, 2023 alongside a slew of new pictures.
Vikings: Valhalla. Bradley James as Harekr in episode 203 of Vikings: Valhalla. Cr. Bernard Walsh/Netflix © 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, we can expect to see many significant recorded events during this period of history in season 2 and beyond.
Before we get into our theories behind what will happen in season 2, here’s the official synopsis for the second season as provided by Netflix:
“Season Two finds our heroes shortly after the tragic fall of Kattegat; an event that has shattered their dreams and altered their destinies. Finding themselves suddenly fugitives in Scandinavia they are forced to test their ambitions and courage in worlds beyond the fjords of Kattegat.”
Vikings: Valhalla. Stanislav Callas as Jorundr in episode 204 of Vikings: Valhalla. Cr. Bernard Walsh/Netflix © 2022
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.
Speaking to The Wrap, Leo Suter told them:
“Harald’s been screwed over. Massively screwed over and what’s more, it’s not just him who’s been screwed over but it’s his loved ones who’ve been screwed over. So that relationship is, as you say, very damaged. And it’s going to take a lot for it to heal. But yeah, there’s certainly been some serious wrongs that have befallen him. So let’s see in Season 2 what happens with that.
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 of Vikings: Valhalla?
Every season of Vikings: Valhalla will consist of eight episodes with each being around 50 minutes in length.
There will be 24 episodes of Vikings: Valhalla spread across 3 seasons.
Looking ahead to season 3, one of the biggest pieces of news we’ve had so far is that we can expect to see George Maniakes appear in the season. In history, Maniakes was a prominent general of the Byzantine Empire during the 11th century. He’s set to be played by Florian Munteanu, who played Razor Fist in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Picture: COURTESY OF DOMINIK CINI
Are you looking forward to the release of Vikings: Valhalla season 2 on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!
