History’s Vikings has earned an early sixth season renewal, with the network announcing the new season pick-up months before season five is set to air. The just-announced season six will consist of 20 episodes, one of which will mark the directorial debut of series star Katheryn Winnick. Filming will begin in Ireland later this year.
Season four of Vikings averaged 7.8 million viewers and was in the top five among ad-supported cable dramas. Season five will premiere on November 29, 2017 at 9pm ET/PT, airing 10 episodes before taking a break. The season’s final 10 episodes will air sometime in 2018.
“Vikings has creatively sailed to monumental lengths. The series has evolved from early raids in England, to the heart-stopping death of Ragnar Lothbrok, to the fierce battles of the Great Heathen Army, and now we’ll see the sons of Ragnar exploring and conquering the known world,” said Eli Lehrer, Executive Vice President of Programming, HISTORY. “Michael Hirst has only scratched the surface of his epic saga. We look forward to continuing our partnership with one of the greatest writers in this era of Peak TV and entertaining our viewers with 40 new episodes over the next two seasons.”
“It has been my pleasure and my privilege to work with HISTORY and our partner MGM over five seasons and 69 episodes of Vikings. Now we are ready to begin production of a 20 episode season six that will deliver a huge and unexpected revelation to our audience,” stated Michael Hirst, creator and executive producer. “There are many reasons why I love this show, not least for the commitment and creativity of everyone involved in making it, but perhaps even more important is the spirit that drives this production – one of the happiest, most collaborative and most authentic productions I have ever been involved with. And so we sail on.”
Season five will star Katheryn Winnick (“Lagertha”), Gustaf Skarsgard (“Floki”), Alexander Ludwig (“Bjorn”), Alex Hogh Andersen (“Ivar the Boneless”), Jordan Smith (“Ubbe”), Marco Ilso (“Hvitserk”), and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (“Bishop Heahmund”). Morgan O’Sullivan, Sheila Hockin, John Weber, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, and James Flynn serve as executive producers.
