The first ten episodes of Vikings' sixth season delivered some truly shocking moments, and
now the show's final episodes have some big questions to answer. Before you dive back
into the world of Vikings, however, here's everything you need to know about the second
half of Season 6.
History hasn't set an official release date for the second half of Vikings Season 6 yet,
but all the evidence points to a fall release. Ahead of the sixth season's premiere in 2019,
Deadline reported that the remaining 10 episodes of Season 6 are slated to air in 2020.
If the report still holds true, and the network wants to get the remaining episodes out in
2020, it would have to premiere by the first part of October at the latest. There's a good
chance it'll actually be the following month, though, since the second parts of both season
4 and season 5 premiered in November and ran over into the following year.
Luckily, Vikings Season 6 wrapped long before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down film and TV
productions the world over, so nobody expects there to be any coronavirus-related delays
when it comes to the remaining episodes. To their credit, the cast has been actively engaging
with fans during the crisis, urging them to stay home and stay safe. Floki actor Gustaf
Skarsgård won praise from his Vikings co-stars when he shared a corona-themed poem on his
Instagram, calling for hope in uncertain times.
"I just wish our mighty folk a slice of hope, peace to the entire globe."
Undoubtedly the biggest question that Vikings fans will have after the mid-season finale
is the fate of Alexander Ludwig's Bjorn Ironside. Bjorn had become the series lead when his
father departed for Valhalla in Season 4, thrown into a pit of snakes by Aelle and the
Northumbrians.
Following in Travis Fimmel's footsteps was always going to be tricky, but just as viewers
were starting to accept Ludwig as the new face of the show, he was killed off in a similarly
shocking fashion. Or was he? Bjorn was dealt a seemingly fatal blow from his brother Ivar
in Season 6's tenth episode, though Ludwig has remained coy when quizzed about Bjorn's
current status. In an interview with TV Guide, the actor teased:
"That's the big question, I guess. It'll have to bring the fans back to keep watching. It
certainly doesn't look good for him, I'll tell you that."
Even someone as formidable as Bjorn Ironside is going to struggle to shake off being run
through with a sword, but an on-set photo that Ludwig shared on his Instagram Stories
seemed to confirm that he doesn't die on the battlefield. In the snap, Ludwig sports Bjorn's
scars and tattoos, but his beard and hair are gray, suggesting that he actually lives
to old age. The actor told Entertainment Tonight that he'd been ordered to keep Bjorn's fate
a secret, but he's also promised that viewers will encounter Bjorn in the next season, in
some way, shape or form.
One fan explanation for Bjorn's gray beard is that everything that happened to him in
the mid-season finale was some kind of vision or dream, a tactic the show has employed in
the past. In its review for the mid-season finale, Forbes pointed out that the big battle
scene between Bjorn's forces and Ivar's Rus army was incredibly hard to follow. The publication
wrote:
"Not only did it take place across multiple locations, at times out of chronological order,
it was interspersed with Ivar's planning and an intimate conversation on the beach between
Ivar and Bjorn."
The unusual way in which the episode played out has some fans convinced it was all happening
in Bjorn's head. As one Reddit user writes:
"The title 'Best Laid Plans' explains the entire episode. The reason it seemed like
everyone was [astral] projecting everywhere is because the battle hasn't even begun. What
if most of the episode is Bjorn imagining different strategies and scenarios based on
Ivar's plans?"
This popular fan theory gained some extra credence when Vikings creator Michael Hirst
spoke to TV Guide, and confirmed that not everything depicted in the mid-season finale
actually happened. Hirst said:
"I can't tell you too much, but what I can tell you is the [mid-season premiere] is an
extraordinary episode and a number of things that you thought were true at the end of [the
mid-season finale] proved not to be quite true."
Vikings fans were left baffled when Ragnar's most unremarkable son Hvitserk reunited with
his brutal brother Ivar the Boneless in the first part of season 6. Ivar had Hvitserk's
girlfriend Thora burned alive, which sent him spiralling into addiction and madness,
a madness that led to him accidentally murdering his father's first love in cold blood.
Hvitserk is exiled from Kattegat after killing Lagertha, but instead of starting over by
himself he runs back to Ivar. Has he really forgiven Ivar for what he did, or is Hvitserk
pulling the wool over his brother's eyes?
Some fans believe that Hvitserk will kill Ivar in the second half of Season 6, and Ivar
actor Alex Høgh Andersen would apparently be okay with this. Andersen told Entertainment
Tonight:
"One of his brothers should kill him. That would be karma with a capital K and I like
that."
Andersen didn't single out Hvitserk as the one who should do the killing, but Michael
Hirst has indicated that there's more to come from Hvitserk in the remaining ten episodes.
Speaking to TV Guide, Hirst praised Ilsø's performance and promised an "extraordinary"
end to his character's arc. Hirst said:
"He absolutely comes into his own and he finds out who he is. Taken over all the seasons
that he's been in the show, it's a quite remarkable journey that he's been on and ends in this
in an equally extraordinary way."
Longtime fan favorite Floki was absent during the first part of Season 6, having been buried
alive in a cave below an erupting volcano during the previous season. The whole Floki-goes-to-Iceland
storyline wasn't very well received overall, but viewers have been clamoring for the return
of Ragnar's old comrade, with many refusing to believe that he's really dead.
"The space between life and death. That's where we are the most alive."
Gustaf Skarsgård told his Instagram followers that Floki didn't make it out of that cave
in a post he shared ahead of the Season 6 premiere, but would Michael Hirst really kill
off Floki with a full season of the show remaining? The short answer is no, and there's proof
of this, too. According to SoundtrackTracklist.com, track 26 of the Vikings Season 6 soundtrack
album is titled "Floki Tells of Why He Left Iceland," which seems pretty self-explanatory.
Somebody will clearly sit down for a catch up with Floki during the second part of Season
6, most likely Ubbe.
Ubbe and his wife Torvi traveled to Iceland in search of the famous boat builder during
the first part of Season 6, but they've yet to locate him, apparently because he's already
left the island. So where did he go? Skarsgård has reportedly been spotted filming scenes
for Season 6, though at this stage their content is unknown. One popular fan theory is that
Floki will become the new Seer of Kattegat in the show's final episode.
Ferdia Walsh-Peelo's King Alfred didn't show up during the first half of Vikings Season
6 either, but he's definitely set to make a triumphant return during the show's home
stretch. In February 2020, Walsh-Peelo shared a behind-the-scenes snap of himself in character,
revealing a new, grittier Alfred. He captioned the post:
"Vikings 6B hitting your screens later this year. Be prepared for the wrath of Alfred
2.0."
The actor was covered in blood in the image, which was taken by none other than Ivar the
Boneless actor Alex Høgh Andersen. The two will obviously go head to head in the second
half of Vikings Season 6, after Ivar decides that he has unfinished business with Alfred
and Wessex. Michael Hirst told Variety:
"There are big set pieces and there's a lot to play for. By this stage, when they go back
to England, Wessex is the last Saxon kingdom left. Every other kingdom in England has fallen
to the Vikings."
Alfred will defend his kingdom to his last breath, and it looks as though Hvitserk could
be helping him, the final track on the Vikings Season 6 score is called "Hvitserk Gets Baptised,"
suggesting that he'll ultimately side with the Christians over his brother.
The sixth season episode "Death and the Serpent" marked the first appearance of Erik Thorvaldsson,
a real life Viking leader who founded the first Norse settlement on Greenland. Better
known as Erik the Red, the real Thorvaldsson was exiled from Iceland after being found
guilty of manslaughter and decided to sail west, where he happened upon a land full of
fertile valleys and fjords. Thorvaldsson went on to become one of the most famous Vikings
of all time, and it seems as though his TV counterpart has some big plans, too.
In Vikings, Thorvaldsson is an outlaw who steps in to help Bjorn Ironside in his feud
with rival King Harald, the newly elected ruler of all Norway. He manages to save Bjorn's
skin, but he doesn't do it simply because he's a nice guy. When asked if Bjorn could
trust Erik, actor Eric Johnson told Entertainment Tonight:
"For Erik, he has got his own agenda too, he has to look out for himself."
The two vikings join forces with Harald when Ivar and the Rus march on Vestfold, and when
Harald is left badly wounded on the battlefield, it's Erik that scoops up his crown. Bjorn
will no doubt expect Erik to hand the crown over to him…but will the outlaw part with
it willingly?
Another fan favorite who is yet to appear in Season 6 is Clive Standen's Rollo, brother
of Ragnar Lothbrok and more than likely the real father of Ragnar's first son, Bjorn.
Back in Season 1, it was established that Rollo had a relationship with Lagertha before
she was with Ragnar, and Rollo has always maintained that he's Bjorn's biological father.
Lagertha initially denied this, and Rollo hit another brick wall when he tried to broach
the topic with Bjorn himself.
"I have heard something to that effect. But rumors are a doubtful truth."
According to Standen, he knew from the very beginning that Bjorn's parentage would come
into question. During the run of the show's fifth season, the actor told Entertainment
Tonight:
"It's something that the very first director, Johan Renck, whispered into my ear. It's so
rewarding to see that storyline, that it happened from a whisper into an actor's ear."
Will this be the last of it, though? And will Duke Rollo return during the second half of
Season 6 in some shape or form? Standen told The New York Post:
"I'm not allowed to say. But Rollo never dies. Can't kill Rollo. I think I am one of the
only original cast members that can hold their hand up and go, 'I'm still alive! Still out
there somewhere in the world!'"
Ivar the Boneless has done some pretty terrible things since he debuted on the show back in
Season 2, but according to Michael Hirst, Ivar isn't totally beyond redemption. In fact,
he might be in the midst of it already. Hirst told TV Guide:
"I think that Ivar actually has been redeemed, to some extent, by his relationship with the
boy, with Igor. Instead of being the narcissist he's always been, he's been able to be emotional,
emotionally generous, and empathetic."
Ivar has taken the young Rus prince under his wing, and their relationship will no doubt
play a part in his final arc. Bjorn actor Alexander Ludwig has also said that Ivar will
come to regret the mistakes that he's made in the past by the end of season 6. He explains:
"Even a sociopath like Ivar has some sort of depth to him, and I think that towards
the final 10 episodes you will see that."
And according to Alex Høgh Andersen himself, redemption will be Ivar's main goal during
the second half of season 6. He told TV Guide:
"I think he's a broken boy on the inside, and probably more broken on the inside than
he is on the outside. And that's partly because he hates himself and he's not happy. So redemption
would be a way to get there."
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