Vikings Creator Likens His Involvement With Netflix Sequel to Lucas and Star Wars

While Vikings may be coming to an end soon after six seasons on History Channel, its saga will live on in a sequel series, Vikings: Valhalla, which will stream on Netflix. Vikings showrunner Michael Hirst explained to IGN during a phone interview last week why History Channel isn't making this follow-up to their wildly successful TV series and also provided details on the narrative timeline of Valhalla. Vikings: Valhalla is set roughly 100 years after the events depicted in Vikings and will include appearances by famous Vikings from history like Leif Erikson, Freydís Eiríksdóttir, Harald Hardrada, and William the Conqueror. "These men and women will blaze new paths as they fight for survival in an ever-changing and evolving Europe," according to the official plot synopsis. Watch a new clip from Vikings' final run of episodes, which debuted during Comic-Con's Vikings panel: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/vikings-season-6-official-clip-comic-conhome-on-ign"] Jeb Stuart will serve as the showrunner of Valhalla, while Hirst -- who created, produced, and wrote every episode of Vikings -- is only expected to serve as an executive producer on Valhalla alongside Stuart and Morgan O'Sullivan. "I'm going to have a role of oversight. I know and like Jeb very much," Hirst said, who likened his future involvement with Vikings as being akin to how George Lucas served as a guru to other filmmakers on the Star Wars franchise he created. "I think that MGM will want me to continue my involvement rather the way that Lucas is kind of involved in every Star Wars," Hirst explained. "But I think that it was a decision of History [Channel] also to stop their involvement because [they're] not really doing, as far as I know, they're not going to do drama anymore, or at least they're going to go back to documentary making. MGM very much wants [Vikings] to continue so [it's] important to stay friends." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/07/vikings-season-6-trailer-2019"] "Netflix gives you obvious advantages and so we're very pleased to be in partnership with them," Hirst said the shift in distributors. "And it's a long-term commitment for them. And obviously I'm thrilled that my saga, in a way, it lives on." Vikings: Valhalla is, in spirit, about the legacy of Rollo (played on Vikings by Clive Standen) as William the Conqueror, the first Norman King of England, was a direct descendant of Rollo's and Normandy was formed by the Norsemen who followed Rollo. Seeing as how the chronology of the lives of Leif Erickson and William the Conqueror don't necessarily overlap at the most pivotal events and moments of their lives, Hirst suspects creative license could be employed much like how he moved up certain events in Vikings -- such as the siege of Paris -- to suit the narrative needs of his show. "I don't particularly want to think about how they're going to handle any distances in terms of when these characters actually appeared, or how they're just going to handle time lapses... That's not for me to say. I took some liberties obviously in my show," Hirst said. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=movies-and-shows-to-prepare-you-for-valhalla&captions=true"] "I don't believe in doing something plainly absurd, and plainly wouldn't happen, but the attack on Paris did happen. I showed it how it happened and everything is there [but pushed it up several decades]. So maybe they'll take liberties with Vikings: Valhalla, but I've known Jeb - it will have its own integrity." While there's no release date yet for Vikings: Valhalla, Netflix has committed to a 24-episode order for the series. For more on Vikings Season 6, learn what Michael Hirst had to say about who lives and who dies in the midseason finale.

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