Vikings has been a key part of History's lineup since it premiered back in 2013. The network's first scripted drama, Vikings won a healthy fanbase and continues to thicken its plot in some bloody ways. Well, History has some bad news for fans of Vikings. The show has officially been cancelled, but there is a silver lining to the upcoming end of the series.
Although Vikings did get the axe from History, fans don't have to worry that the Season 5 finale will be the series finale. The show was renewed for Season 6 back in 2017, months before Season 5 even hit the airwaves, and Season 5 is still going strong. (That too seemed to some like a sign that VIkings would be around for the indefinite future.) The end is nigh, but it's not coming too soon. Season 6 will run for 20 episodes, and there's more good news.
History, Vikings creator Michael Hirst, and production studio MGM Television are working to continue the franchise beyond the end of its flagship series, according to Deadline. No deals are in place just yet, but the idea is that the same creative team as Vikings would remain on board and continue the saga fans have come to know, love, and watch with bated breath to see if their favorite would bite the dust.
No details have yet been released about what the prospect spinoff would be about or what characters it would follow, and part of me hopes that the characters won't be revealed until after Vikings ends, assuming the spinoff would pick up after Vikings in the franchise timeline. It would ruin Season 6 suspense if we knew who definitely wasn't going to die! If the spinoff does move forward, writer Jeb Stuart of Die Hard and The Fugitive would step up to collaborate with Michael Hirst.
With the cancellation news, we can certainly say that Vikings won't be making a particular piracy list indefinitely. I do hope that Lagertha survives Season 6 to appear in the spinoff, although I'd be intrigued if the spinoff was produced as a prequel to Ragnar and Lagertha prior to the beginning of the show. The only downside in my book would be that characters would probably have to be recast with younger actors.
An upside of the early cancellation is that Michael Hirst (who has written every Vikings episode to date) should have the time to craft a satisfying ending. Perhaps knowing that Season 6 is the series finale will prompt Hirst not to conclude the season on a killer cliffhanger! We'll have to wait and see.
New episodes of Vikings air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on History. For more viewing options, swing by our midseason TV premiere guide. No release date for Vikings Season 6 has been announced yet, but perhaps Game of Thrones will help Vikings fans during the hiatus. The two shows are just about as similar as a show loosely based on history and a show set in a universe of dragons and ice zombies can be, and Thrones is back in April.
