Vikings: Valhalla Special Edition by Den of Geek

I N PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H N E T F L I X | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 2

BEHIND THE SCENES SHOTS THE REAL STORY OF VIKINGS: VALHALLA SECRETS OF THE SET DESIGN

OFFICIAL

SPECIAL EDITION E XCLUSIVE

CAST INTERVIEWS

CON TENT S V IKI N GS:

V A LHA LL A

E DIT ION

THE MAKING OF VIKINGS: VALHALLA

IMAGE CREDIT: NETFLIX

The creators of Vikings: Valhalla on bringing to life this epic, historical ensemble piece. PG. 10

LEGENDS AND HEROES

We catch up with the cast of Vikings: Valhalla to learn about the new characters, and explore the real life figures they were based on. PG. 18

CREATING THE WORLD OF THE VIKINGS

Attention to detail is everything in Vikings: Valhalla. Production designer Tom Conroy talks us through the world building. PG. 26

SECRETS OF THE STUNTS

Stunt coordinator Richard Ryan and armorer John McKenna on the fighting style and weaponry in the show’s epic battles. PG. 30

VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

LETTER OF INTRODUCTION

WELCOME TO VIKINGS: VALHALLA! It’s hard to believe it has been over three years since I received an email asking if I would be interested in exploring some sort of continuation of Michael Hirst’s epic series that had just wrapped after six seasons. As I sit here now it’s hard to believe my first reaction was: “No way I would do that.” Don’t get me wrong, I was a huge fan of the original series, but Vikings had left the bar so high in terms of character and action you could hardly see it. Following that was a tough assignment. But I couldn’t argue that while the original series had shown us the start of the Viking era, it had left us with an unanswered question: what would its end look like? And those years were also filled with some of the most memorable Vikings of all time; names like Leif Eriksson, his fiery sister, Freydis, King Canute II, Emma of Normandy, and Harald Sigurdsson, who would one day be known as Hardrada, the “Hard Ruler.” I also couldn’t argue that Valhalla fit my style of writing—fast paced, big in character-driven action, with twists and turns in every story. The plan from the beginning was to keep the DNA of the original—its attention to character and action— but be bold enough to create a new series, with a new cast, new themes,

and that a new audience could watch without having to have seen every episode of the first. This would require finding an exciting new entry point in the Viking timeline, far

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enough from the original that it could afford us a fresh start. It turned out I only had to go 125 years. In my research, I came across a

MAG AZ I N E

IMAGE CREDIT: BERNARD WALSH/NETFLIX

Left: Harald unites an army of Vikings. Below: Freydis and the Priestess in the Temple of Uppsala.

report of an archeological excavation at St John’s College, Oxford. There, below an old chapel, 35 skeletons, all males, and of great physical stature, had been discovered. DNA analysis showed that they were Vikings and wound marks on the bones suggested they had been subjected to violence and ambush. Most importantly, the date of their deaths was traced to the year 1002 AD when the Saxon King Aethelred the Unready ordered the massacre of all Danes (Vikings) living in England. And there it was, the St. Brice’s Day Massacre. A blip on the scale of English history for sure, but for the writer in me, a doorway into our new story. What if one of my characters had been there? What if he or she

survived? How would their Viking kin, who were locked in a religious civil war in Scandinavia, react? Would they put aside their religious and ideological differences and remember that at the center of their being they were Vikings? Would they come together to avenge this slaughter of their people? The answer of course was, yes. And what if Leif and Freydis were on another mission, a personal mission that brought them to Kattegat just as this great army of revenge was about to set off? And what if these two stories collided in a way that jeopardized the success of both? Well, there you have the start to Valhalla. It has been my pleasure these last three years to work with master filmmakers in Ireland and Canada who have poured their passion into this new endeavor. Their skills are on full display in every frame of every episode. As are the talents of our great international cast, Sam Corlett (Leif Eriksson), Frida Gustavsson (Freydis Eriksdotter), Leo Suter (Harald Sigurdsson), Bradley Freegard (King Canute), Laura Berlin (Emma of Normandy), David Oakes (Earl Godwin), Caroline Henderson (Jarl Haakon), and many, many others. Valhalla was made to live alongside Vikings. To tell a new and final part of the Viking saga. It has truly been a joy to work alongside this immensely talented cast and crew. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we have enjoyed making it. Jeb Stuart

Editor-in-Chief Mike Cecchini Editorial Director Chris Longo Print Editor Rosie Fletcher Creative Director Lucy Quintanilla Art Director Jessica Koynock Copy Editor Sarah Litt Sub Editor Richard Jordan Production Manager Kyle Christine Darnell

DENOFGEEK.COM Editor-in-Chief Mike Cecchini Director of Editorial and Partnerships Chris Longo Managing Editor John Saavedra UK Editor Rosie Fletcher Associate Editors Alec Bojalad, Kayti Burt, Matthew Byrd, David Crow, Kirsten Howard, Louisa Mellor, Tony Sokol Art Director Jessica Koynock Head of Video Production Andrew Halley Senior Video Producer Nick Morgulis Head of Audience Development Elizabeth Donoghue CEO and Group Publisher Jennifer Bartner-Indeck Chief Financial Officer Peter Indeck Commercial Director Mark Wright

JEB STUART, CREATOR/SHOWRUNNER OF VIKINGS: VALHALLA.

TH IS M AGAZINE WAS P ROD U C E D IN PAID PART N ER S HI P WI T H N ET F L I X

Publisher Matthew Sullivan-Pond UK Advertising Director Adam McDonnell

VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

THE FAMILIES

KEY

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OF VALHALLA A V ISUA L GU I DE

VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

THE FAMILIES

KEY

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OF VALHALLA A V ISUA L GU I DE

VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

IMAGE CREDITS: BERNARD WALSH / NETFLIX

VALH

JOU R NE Y IN T O

N E TF LI X’S

ALLA

The minds behind Vikings: Valhalla on how the Vikings spin-off tells its own story. BY LACY BAUGHER

(Left to right) Sam Corlett as Leif Eriksson and Edward Franklin as Skarde.

N PAPER, A VIKINGS SPIN-OFF certainly seems like a no-brainer. The original series ran for six seasons and garnered legions of fans thanks to its adventurous storytelling, morally gray characters, cinematic action sequences, and willingness to take risks. The simplest choice would have been to create essentially a carbon copy of the original, leaning into its themes of legacy and explicitly tying the new series to its parent program. Instead, Netflix has gone in a different direction, setting Vikings: Valhalla 125 years after the original, in a world where names like Ragnar and Lagertha are remembered as mythic figures more than real people who loved and struggled and triumphed. “We had no desire to do season 7 of Michael [Hirst]’s show,” Vikings: Valhalla creator Jeb Stuart tells Den of Geek. “I loved everything they did. But I needed to find a place to tell a different story.” Valhalla is certainly that. Full of multi-dimensional characters and massive action set-pieces, the Netflix series feels like a close relative of the original History Channel drama. But Valhalla is very much its own thing, navigating a deft and nuanced tale about two competing religions and the evolution of a kingdom. “The one thing I said from the beginning was I couldn’t write an episode of Vikings,” Stuart says. “I wouldn’t know how to do that. And that’s not fair to either Michael or me. It’s like coming in after Gene Roddenberry and saying, ‘Write another episode of Star Trek.’ This is The Next Generation.” Touting its “fresh” and “accessible” feel, Stuart hopes to attract a Netflix audience that “might not have approached” the original series for whatever reason. But he is equally VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

HISTORY LOVES SYMMETRY The setting of Vikings: Valhalla is also a natural choice, simply for the way it brings the Vikings’ story in Northern Europe full circle. Where the original series showed us their arrival in Britain and ended with the victory of King Alfred the Great, this spin-off reveals the other half of the Vikings’ story: their ultimate— and almost complete —triumph (although possibly not in the way that you expect). Cnut (Canute in the show), whose decision to lead an army to Britain in response to the brutal St. Brice’s Day massacre is one of the precipitating events of Valhalla, will become Cnut the Great, the king of all England, and unite its peoples

in common culture and customs. “Cnut becomes king of a whole empire, which is actually an amazing thing that nobody talks about, at a time when the French empire is little more than Paris,” Pollard says. “And that leads on through to the final joke in the whole thing. The man who eventually takes over in England is William the Conqueror who’s a [direct] descendant of the Viking Rollo.” Meaning, of course, that the Viking conquest was ultimately… pretty successful actually. “History loves symmetry,” Pollard says. “Ultimately, [the British] Royal Family, who claim descent today from William, are all Vikings.”

Bradley Freegard as Canute, one of the key historical figures in Vikings: Valhalla’s story. 12 DEN OF GEEK | VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION

adamant that fans of the original Vikings will find plenty to love in Valhalla. “To fans [I would say], I was a fan. I’m not trying to throw the old show away. It contains the DNA of Vikings. It’s just a different animal. And you should be able to go to the zoo and see a zebra and a horse and say, ‘I can love them both.’” One of the biggest differences between Vikings and Valhalla is the latter’s sprawling cast. In the original series, all roads generally led back to Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) in some way. Even after he was dead, the story was largely driven by his children. But Valhalla features at least half a dozen major characters, all with competing agendas and stories of their own. “It’s really an ensemble piece,” executive producer Morgan O’Sullivan says. “Sure there are stars in it, but all of the characters are equally important. We’re blessed in these characters and the way they’re written.” Viewers may be surprised to learn that most of the characters they will encounter in Vikings: Valhalla were real people. Olaf Haraldsson was a king of Norway and later canonized by the Catholic Church. Canute was king of England for the better part of two decades. Leif Eriksson is widely remembered as the explorer who first set foot on continental North America, but he was also a Christan convert who played a key role in spreading the religion among the Norse people. And Harald Sigurdsson is still considered by many historians to be the last great Viking warrior. “Obviously in Vikings, our main characters were semi-mythological for most of the way through,” historical advisor Justin Pollard explains. “But now [in Valhalla] we’re in the 11th century. The idea is to keep the main action with real characters.” However, given the scarcity of available primary sources, no one should look to Valhalla as a completely faithful retelling of the “extraordinary” lives of these men and women. “Is it accurate? No. We don’t have enough information to make it accurate,” Pollard says. “This is not a forensic reconstruction. [But] we use a synthesis of

Below: (Left to right) Frida Gustavsson as Freydis, Álfrún Laufeyjardóttir as Yrsa, and Lujza Richter as Liv. Left: Louis Davison as Prince Edmund.

different sources that we hope feels authentic. That’s the word I always use in any historical drama—is it authentic?” There’s also the question of what makes a good story and whether the historical record is dramatic enough for modern-day television purposes. “It’s hard to write a dramatic explorer, okay?” Stuart says. “Years ago, when they brought me in to rewrite [the movie] Backdraft, [director] Ron Howard said, ‘It’s just not exciting.’ And I said, ‘Ron, here’s a reason we make cop shows and not firefighter shows. Cops solve problems, firemen put out fires.’ And explorers are kind of in the same situation.” “We have to build these characters as interesting people,” Pollard says. “So we take the little bit of history that we have

IT’S HARD TO WRITE A DR AM ATIC EXPLORER , OK AY?”

VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

and add into that the later texts, the saga texts, which is where we get Leif Eriksson and Erik the Red and Freydis Eriksdotter and all of these people. And it’s like taking characters out of a children’s book. They’re wonderful or they’re terrible. And folding those together—it’s trying to find a middle ground.” And, as most historians are painfully aware, history is most often written by those with an agenda, rather than those who desire to preserve a record of the things that actually happened. “The funny thing about history is: who do you listen to?” Stuart asks. “Emma [of Normandy] created her own biography about how great she was. Harald Sigurdsson took his poets with him wherever he went. So what we know about them and what we say is factual really is their lens that they want us to view them through.” Instead, Stuart aims to use the “wonderful gray areas” that exist in between the facts we do know to tell his story. “Leif, for example, is an interesting character. We do know he was one of the great Christian proselytizers of the Viking world. How did that happen? That’s [the space] where I go out and play,” Stuart says. “There’s lots of [room] for me to start developing that.” From its opening frames, Vikings: Valhalla reflects many of the aspects of Viking culture that have fascinated us for hundreds of years. 14 DEN OF GEEK | VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION

“I think the Vikings had some of the values that we still respect today. They are great travelers. They have a great zest for exploration. Sometimes quite violent exploration, but exploration all the same,” Pollard explains. “They are the first white Western Europeans to reach the Americas. That’s an extraordinary thing to do at that time period. I think that sense of adventure we all grew up on, which you tend to see in the Indiana Jones movies—they’re the epitome of that.” One of the most interesting and refreshing aspects of Viking culture is obviously its women. We all know the stories of shield-maidens and likely cheered both the political machinations and battlefield tactics of Lagertha in the original Vikings series. But Valhalla introduces us to multiple intriguing female characters, from the deeply religious warrior Freydis Eriksdotter to Emma of Normandy, a woman who was the queen of three countries and the mother of multiple kings, including Edward the Confessor. “One of the things I love about Viking culture is women could own property, women could divorce their husbands, women could rule kingdoms,” Stuart says. “But after 1066, women essentially went into the Dark Ages.” “In Christian medieval Europe, the role of women is being suppressed… becoming more and more proscribed,” Pollard adds. “This is not true in pagan Viking society.

Opposite: (Left to right) Caroline Henderson as Jarl Haakon and Frida Gustavsson as Freydis Eriksdotter. Below: Cast and crew film a banquet scene for episode 1 of Vikings: Valhalla.

WE HAD NO DESIRE TO DO SEASON 7 OF VIKINGS. I NEEDED TO FIND A PLACE TO TELL A DIFFERENT STORY.” I hope what this series will do is show that pre-conquest, there were women who were absolutely actors in their own right. They were powerful.” Making sure the female characters of Vikings: Valhalla were complex, layered individuals with agency of their own was a priority for everyone involved with the show. “It was really important,” Pollard says. “Michael and Jeb wanted that right from the start. It’s about actually showing that the role of women in pre-conquest society was extremely dynamic and extremely important. And the only reason you don’t know that is because late historians have rubbed those bits out.” “What I don’t want to write and I’m not going to write is a woman who is on the back foot,” Stuart says. “I find Freydis aspirational. She’s literally and figuratively a scarred character. But you love her because she’s always pushing forward.”

Valhalla also deals with another rapidly shifting aspect of 11th-century society: the widespread changes across Europe in the wake of the rise of Christianity. “We’re coming towards the end of the Christianization of Europe at this point,” Pollard explains. “But a lot of the Christianization in Northern Europe was done at the point of a sword. And as we all know, the most appalling, bitter, and often bloody wars are over belief. It’s fairly easy if you’re just after someone’s gold mine or their house or whatever. But when you’re after their mind, it’s a very different thing.” The other interesting tension, of course, is that this conflict isn’t simply between Christians and Vikings. Many Vikings by this period were Christians themselves and were as interested in converting their own people as much as any of the English might have been. “The conflict and the drama of Valhalla is that [these people] are literally losing VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

their beliefs,” O’Sullivan says. “And they’re converted to something that’s foreign to them and something that a lot of them go against. People don’t like change.” Yet, unlike many series that wrestle with topics of faith and religion, Valhalla works hard to present both sides of its story fairly and with nuance. “In [media] about Vikings in the 20th century, there has tended to be a Christian bias to it, which not surprisingly portrayed Vikings as barbarians,” Pollard says. “A lot of effort went into trying to play belief in terms of peoples’ own psycho-geography. It was really important to try to balance those up whereby nobody’s view of the world seems weird.” 16 DEN OF GEEK | VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION

According to Pollard, this involved treating everything from pilgrimages to pagan holy sites in a way that “people from a more Western tradition can understand as being equally valid.” As a result, many of Valhalla’s best dramatic moments stem from this clash between belief systems. “I think if I went out and told everybody it’s a show about religion, no one would watch it,” Stuart laughs. “But I do think our beliefs about Christianity or Islam or any of those things are part of who we are, [even if ] we haven’t been to church in forever. That’s a very powerful [thing].” The depth and complexity of Valhalla’s narrative will likely surprise people tuning in to the show expecting

OLAF AND THE CHRISTIAN VIKING Though both Vikings and Vikings: Valhalla deal with religion and conflicts between opposing belief systems, one way in which Valhalla stands out is its inclusion of the socalled Christian Viking, a literal warrior for God. The best-known real-life example of this figure is probably Olaf Haraldsson, the king of Norway who was eventually canonized by the Catholic Church for his (often violent) proselytization efforts. (His feast day, in case you were curious, is July 29.) “You’d think, today, this man is a maniac. What on earth is saintly about him?” Pollard says. But, in his way, Olaf

represents the natural evolution of a character we’ve met before. “Olaf is a warrior saint in the same way as back in Vikings, we had Heahmund, the Bishop of Sherborne,” Pollard says. “In a very violent society, someone like Olaf was a very good way for the Catholic Church to get their point across.” ”The one thing that I do think is very scary is a Christian Viking,” Stuart agrees. “I mean, if a pagan Viking was bad, a Christian Viking is like, whoa. Because the pagans had no zealots. The Christians had zealots. That’s a very scary type of person in my book. I like writing those kinds of people.”

Frida Gustavsson , who plays Freydis Eriksdotter, films a water sequence against a huge bluescreen.

non-stop battles and bloodshed (though there is certainly a fair amount of both those things). But according to Pollard, that willingness to play with viewer expectations is part of the show’s appeal. “I think that the success [of the Vikings franchise] has been exactly because it isn’t just dudes stabbing [things]. You would get bored of finding ways to stab people, wouldn’t you?” Pollard laughs. “The real joy of [the show] is that you’re going to see one of those periods in history that everyone says, ‘Oh, yeah, I know about that.’ But in fact, you have no idea—and it will be genuinely surprising to see how it all actually played out.”

Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as the Christian Viking Olaf Haraldsson in Vikings: Valhalla. VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

Legends &Heroes

Meet the Vikings, Greenlanders, Warriors, and Royalty of Vikings: Valhalla. The cast discuss embodying their roles. BY ED GROSS AND ALANA JOLI ABBOTT SET OVER A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, VIKINGS: VALHALLA is an ensemble piece featuring epic journeys, bloody battles, and history-making events. We sat down with some of the main players in the show’s massive cast to find out more about the action, costumes, stunts, and inspirations for Vikings: Valhalla. Meet Greenlander siblings Leif Eriksson and Freydis Eriksdotter, who are on a personal mission; legendary Viking prince Harald Sigurdsson, who managed to unite Vikings of different faiths for a singular purpose; famed Danish king, Canute; the diplomatic warrior and ruler of Kattegat, Jarl Haakon; and Queen consort Emma of Normandy.

CAROLINE HENDERSON AS JA R L H A A KO N

THE REAL…

JAR L HAAKON

There’re so many strong women in the show. Was that part of the appeal? CAROLINE HENDERSON: Definitely part of the appeal. Because we live in Scandinavia we are familiar with the whole history part [rather than] the romantic fairy tale of the Vikings. We learned in school about the fierce women warriors… and the power that women had. How does Jarl Haakon fit into that history? CH: We know from DNA and such that the Vikings were travelers; they traveled to Northern Africa, Asia, all kinds of places. Obviously they brought back slaves and knowledge—but also fell in love. Most likely, people of color have [always] existed in the [Viking] community. I think it’s amazing to bring that to her story, because that’s closer to the [historical] truth I think, than what we’ve seen [in Viking stories] so far. What was it like to be on set? CH: Nothing can prepare you for

Jarl Haakon is an invented character for the series. She is the ruler of Kattegat, a fictional kingdom named after a sea. While there was a viking called Haakon Sigurdsson, also known as Haakon Jarl (‘jarl’ is an Old Norse word for a chief or earl), Caroline Henderson’s character bears no relation to him at all. Instead, the fictional Jarl Haakon may be used to create a connection with some of the characters from Vikings, possibly as a descendant of Ragnar Lothbrok.

that level of [immersion]. It’s so exciting. I try to play it cool of course, but to see horses, villages, and life-sized Viking ships was jaw dropping, and really intimidating at first. But then you get used to it so it’s like, “another day at the office.” What is your favorite thing about your character? CH: We spoke before about her fierceness. She’s so strong. She’s a warrior, and she is wise. She’s wise without being aggressive. I love that she has been able to hold peace so far within Kattegat. But she has a vulnerable side, too. In Kattegat, all religions, all colors, all faiths— everybody’s welcome, because we have to learn how to live together.

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THE REAL…

LEIF ER IKSSON Leif lived around 1000 CE, about 200 years before the two medieval Icelandic stories known as The Vínland Sagas were written down, which is why there are different versions of his tale. The Saga of Erik the Red credits Leif with the discovery of America while on an expedition to convert the Greenlanders to Christianity. The Saga of the Greenlanders has someone else actually first sight America (Bjarni Herjólfsson) but didn’t land. It was Eriksson who landed and named it “Wineland” (Vínland) because he found lots of vines there.

SAM CORLETT AS LEIF ER IKSSON

IMAGE CREDITS: TK

What was it that struck you so deeply about this character? SAM CORLETT: I think on a human scale—his father is notoriously one of the most violent Vikings who ever lived, Erik the Red, and has been exiled. So there’s generational trauma going on there that he’s trying to cleanse himself of while becoming his own man. How would you describe Leif’s evolution? SC: It is very much a coming of age story where he’s discovering who he is. I think it’s nice to see where the Viking world is through his eyes. We’re from a very harsh environment, survival is the first instinct, and that breeds his ability to fight, live, see, and calculate as he does. But as he arrives in Kattegat, that’s such an overwhelming experience. He admires Harald, and he sees almost a

mentor in Canute. There’s so much that can be explored through this role. And I’m growing just as much as a human being as the character is, and that’s what I really discovered doing this. Often I feel like I’m outside the character, trying to honor something outside of me. What was the training for this show like? SC: It was pretty grueling, especially since gyms were closed [due to COVID]. We just had to use whatever exercise equipment we could in our apartments. We’d wake up early, train, go to work, eat dinner, train a little more, and go to sleep. It was quite militant at times, but it was also a gift. The whole stunt team and our stunt coordinator, Richard Ryan, they’re just incredible. When it came [time to film] and the camera was dancing around with you, you were able to go with it. VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

FRIDA GUSTAVSSON AS FREYDIS ERIKSDOTTER

What was it about the character and this show that drew you in? FRIDA GUSTAVSSON: I think Freydis is pretty unique. She’s a headstrong, fiery, fierce warrior. She’s allowed to take up space and to be powerful. And to be able to portray that was just something that I would die to do. What was the nature of the training you did? FG: We spent a lot of time getting prepped by our fantastic stunt crew to actually be able to do everything that you see on screen. We started with just little jabs, and then we started building it. I started with a knife, and then I got to move on to a sword, a shield, some spears, two axes. The way that we learned it is like a little dance. You start with a couple of moves, and then you add more. At the beginning, Freydis isn’t a great fighter, but as the season progresses, the fights get bigger and bigger. I think 22 DEN OF GEEK | VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION

my longest fight was just over four minutes, dressed in armor with real chain mail and studs and then braids. How does Freydis change during the first season? FG: Freydis grew up in a very small community, and she is pretty isolated in her thinking. As the story progresses, she meets people who come from very different backgrounds, believe in very different things. She is forced at first, and also willingly at the end, to accept that you need to be able to take in different people’s beliefs; that you can’t just lock yourself into your own corner. How has playing Freydis impacted you as a performer? FG: Freydis has really taught me so much about standing up for myself, and owning my physicality, and realizing my own strengths and my own power.

THE REAL…

FR EYDIS ERIKSDOTTER Freydis is a character from The Vínland Sagas, which were probably based on oral histories of earlier historical events. According to these poems, she and her brother Leif left Iceland for Greenland, and then sailed further west to “Vínland,” which we now know as North America. In The Saga of the Greenlanders, Freydís is something of a violent troublemaker, but in The Saga of Erik the Red, she is a badass defender of her colony who can fight off invaders while eight months pregnant. Hopefully that’s the version in the show!

BRADLEY FREEGARD AS KING CANUTE

THE REAL…

KING CANUTE

What are King Canute’s central character traits? BRADLEY FREEGARD: He’s a new generation of Viking leader. He understands the benefits to be gained from allegiances, maybe more so than other Viking rulers before. He’s a very successful ruler historically—probably one of the most successful Viking rulers that has ever been. He changed the course of history through his leadership qualities and his ability to manage a kingdom peacefully. But also, he’s a Viking king; cross him at your own peril. What kind of historical research did you do into the real King Canute? BF: There are some great historical books out there about Canute… [and] I read a couple of the big tomes about him. A fascinating guy, very good at maintaining power, which was something not to be sniffed at in those times. It was such a brutal, ruthless era so to be able to keep everyone around the table and to keep everyone appeased and happy was some feat.

King Canute, or Cnut, “the Great” was Emma of Normandy’s second husband. He became King of England, Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden. He was a Danish prince who invaded England in 1015 and became King in 1016 after both his rivals–Emma’s first husband Æthelred the Unready and her stepson Edmund Ironside–remarkably, and conveniently died. Canute married Emma to cement his rule of England, and later inherited the Scandanavian thrones.

How were the boat scenes? BF: The boats are very much real. We had some amazing days out on the boats, rowing. We have a little bit of help, a fantastic marine crew who are all highly qualified seamen. Canute doesn’t do much rowing, obviously—he has a very nice throne at the back of the boat. Did you enjoy the weaponry? BF: I’ve done Shakespearean roles, so there’s stage combat involved in a lot of those. Canute doesn’t get his hands as dirty as some, so I relish the opportunity to get my hands on some double-headed axe action whenever possible.

VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

LAURA BERLIN AS E M M A O F N O R M A N DY

THE REAL…

EMMA OF NOR MANDY

Emma comes across as the smartest person in the room. Was that part of what appealed to you about her? LAURA BERLIN: What fascinates me is how Emma managed to fight her way out of the shadow of Æthelred and all the men at the court. She behaves with integrity. She acts like a chess player… She can read personalities, she knows exactly what drives them. But she doesn’t use this for her own self-interest. She uses her knowledge for a good cause. What research did you do? LB: I bought a handful of books about her, which weren’t easy to find, to be honest. Emma used to be such an important character in English history, the most powerful and wealthiest woman in Europe in her time. Then she somehow disappeared in the past. Then with showrunner Jeb Stuart, we carefully added some depth, some backstory here and there… to make it a bit fuller. From the first moment, I felt so connected with her… on an emotional level.

Emma was Queen consort of England (twice), Denmark, and Norway through two different husbands, later reigning as Regent for her son Harthacnut. We know lots about her because she commissioned a history of herself while still alive to try to smooth things over between two of her sons by different husbands, Edward the Confessor (son of Æthelred the Unready) and Harthacnut (son of Canute), who were wrangling over the throne of England. The Encomium of Queen Emma is a fascinating look at her family history.

THE REAL…

I brought my own memories, emotions, and intuition [to Emma]. Emma’s neither English nor Viking. She’s Norman. What was it like to portray that in between-ness? LB: Emma was married off to this much older man who was King of England. You never get the chance to be who you truly are, because you always have to fulfill something… She seems cold and uptight, but she grew up in a world where she was unseen, unheard, and disrespected. Now she gets the chance to really prove herself.

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HAR ALD SIGUR DSSON Harald Sigurdsson, nicknamed Harald Hardrada, lived a bit later than the others. He was a renowned warrior in his youth who fought across Europe for different kings and emperors. He then became king of Norway. He is best known in English history as the last great Viking to lead an invasion of England. But he wasn’t successful—he was killed in the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, fighting against the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson.

LEO SUTER AS HAR ALD SIGURDSSON

IMAGE CREDITS: NETFLIX

What was it about Vikings: Valhalla that made you want to be a part of it? LEO SUTER: I was so excited to play Harald but also a little daunted once I was sent the script, because this guy was such a hero. He was such a leader and he was going to have to glue together this hoard of Vikings who were baying at each other. He was going to have to be a legend, a politician, a ferocious warrior, and he need to have a charisma about him. Because I was going to be doing things that I’ve not done before, as an actor, that’s very appealing. What went into your physical preparation? LS: To get ready for it physically was just some selfdiscipline and structure of working out, being sensible, watching what you eat, and lifting heavy things more

often than you might otherwise want to. All of that became really useful when we arrived and we got thrown into fight rehearsals and stunt choreography. How does Harald change in the show? LS: When we find him, he’s seeking revenge. There’s a rage within him that comes out on the battlefield. Through the course of the series, he’s going to learn from the elders and those around him that pure rage isn’t enough to rule a kingdom. His main goal is to be king of Norway. To actually become a king and work your way to the top… you need some political knowhow. Professionally, he’s going to find out what it takes to really become a leader. Personally… he’s going to realize that no one can live without other people’s destinies, and other people’s hearts and desires, intertwining with theirs. VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

THE

OLDE WORLD MADE ANEW Vikings: Valhalla production designer Tom Conroy takes us on a journey through the incredible sets created for the show. “IT’S VERY EARTHY; THE TEXTURE OF THAT WORLD,” says Tom Conroy of Vikings: Valhalla. “Sometimes we work in these miserable weather conditions, and we’re all thinking, ‘Oh God, this looks terrible.’ And yet… it all makes it look more visceral; more real.” Bringing this new world to life is a grueling collaborative effort, but if—as they say—the first bite is with the eye, then Conroy is the man responsible for making your mouth water; the man whose work cements the bond of verisimilitude with the audience. We asked him to whisk us on a pictorial tour of the world he helped create, unlocking some of the mysteries, struggles, and secrets behind the mammoth production along the way. “This is a sweeping story,” he tells us excitedly. “The scale of it is huge, with so many sets. I don’t think fans of Vikings are going to be disappointed.” 26 DEN OF GEEK | VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION

IMAGE CREDITS: TK

BY JAMIE ANDREW

“King Canute rides through the land gates of Kattegat. We had so many other big things to do on the show, at least the set of Kattegat [the capital city of Ragnar’s kingdom in Vikings] was— the bones of it—still there. We made quite a lot of changes because our story is set 200 years after the beginning of Vikings, so Kattegat is a bit more established. There are quite a lot of extra buildings, brighter buildings, buildings on stilts, and nicer fabrics around the place because the material culture is stronger.” 1

“This is Queen Ælfgifu, in her summer palace in Denmark. We tried to put a lot of gold into this set. You can see a lot of material with gold thread going through it, and gold banding on the structural supports, the columns. And we can see Canute’s cross, his symbol, behind her. That Christian symbol is obviously a very important part of the story’s iconography. The way I tend to work is to try to really understand the period in which I’m immersed. It’s all about thinking in terms of the material culture because that is both a reflection of and an expression of the rest of the 2

political, religious, and social culture of whatever world you’re creating.” “The Great Viking Army is going to avenge the St. Brice’s Day massacre, they’ve arrived in Kent, and they’re working their way up the coast when they discover a kind of enclave. This, judging from the dead bodies, is the aftermath of the battle there, and that’s Leif and Harald, two of our main characters. We filmed this in a location in which we’d done a lot of set building, close to the studio in Co. Wicklow. In other angles of this scene you’d see a lot of things burning.” 3

“Edmund, the boy King, in the castle courtyard by London Bridge. The bridge set was one of the most expensive sets we did for the season. If you can imagine London Bridge now—and the Thames was about 150 feet wider back then—you couldn’t build the entire scale of that. So we had to build several separate sections. The director, Steve Saint Leger, had to really think and trust us that this bit would add up with that bit, and it would all go together.” 4

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“Kattegat’s outer harbor, close to the ‘fjord.’ We built a huge set, a great big defensive wall, various trading houses, and storage places for all the ships. And then two big piers, which you can see, and a tower in the background. That’s one of the harbor’s many defensive towers, most of which live in the CG world. They have a chain that goes between them to stop any ships getting in. It’s 200 years later, so of course Kattegat’s defenses have become much more sophisticated.” 5

“This is the Great Viking Army preparing to leave Kattegat for England. It’s in Co. Wicklow, on a lake that becomes a fjord thanks to visual effects. We’ve got 12 large longboats: six of them are really quite big—between 48 and 50 feet long—and six of them are sort of medium—about 38 feet long. On an occasion like this, every single one of them would be out, then they’d be 6

augmented by VFX. We do go to sea with them, but only in a certain level of weather, during the summer months, and never far from the shore, with support boats all around. They’re pretty sturdy, but they wouldn’t get you to Greenland!” “We had visited the temple of Uppsala in the first season of Vikings, where Athelstan goes with Ragnar to be prepared for sacrifice. We felt that the temple would be a bit like the Christian churches, in that it would change very slowly over the centuries—maybe on the surface but not underneath. We recreated some of the statues we’d had in the beginning —which had been lost—because we felt they would have remained in place, but we brought in other kinds of statues and votive deities, changed a lot of the smaller things, and you could feel, okay, time was moving on. But we kept the spirit of the place.” 7

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“This is the council chamber of the Royal Castle in London, a studio set. It’s a series of large rooms that are interconnected with each other, and there’s a throne room to the right. Our fantastic set decorator, Anca Rafan, had the idea to use this round table for various scenes, and it was very powerful. Here we have Queen Ælfgifu. She’s arrived in England to discover not only that King Canute has been two-timing her with this woman, Emma of Normandy, but has also actually married her. This is the first time the two of them are meeting each other, so it’s quite a scene. What really makes an era like this is the fantastic costumes. You can see the contrast between the iridescent green and the wine red, and then with the tablecloth in the middle, which would be Anca, the set decorator’s idea, and it really links the two.” 8

VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

FORGING

BATTLE

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Stunt coordinator Richard Ryan and armorer John McKenna reveal how they bring the brutal fights of Vikings: Valhalla to life. BY GENE CHING

hen it comes to action, Vikings: Valhalla has some big tunics to fill. Its predecessor, Vikings, delivered many thrilling sword-and-axe skirmishes worthy of these legendary warriors. The new series reassembles the same stunt team and prop-makers in hopes of capturing even more honor and glory for the noble Norsemen. Fighting through gore and muck is the Viking way, and this crew strives to engage us viscerally with the ferocious spectacle of medieval war. And Vikings: Valhalla doesn’t pull any punches. In just the fourth episode, the stunt team delivers an epic siege on London Bridge, the magnitude of which is on the level of a finale battle in most other sword-swinging series. “Mud and blood is definitely a strong theme with us,” admits Richard Ryan, stunt coordinator for Vikings and Vikings: Valhalla. The franchise has a reputation for gritty, brutal action and the new show brings even more epic brawls that are sure to please the most bloodthirsty fans.

STAGING COMBAT FROM LIVE THEATER TO SMALL SCREEN

Left: The Vikings rush into battle during a siege on London Bridge, in an epic set-piece from episode four of Valhalla. Above right: Leo Suter as a bloodied Harald recovers between takes.

Ryan’s work includes Stardust (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), and Sherlock Holmes (2009) among others, but he entered the stunt biz by chance. An avid martial artist and sportsman, he learned stage combat from the legendary William Hobbs, the pioneering choreographer behind such swashbuckling classics as The Three Musketeers (1973), The Duellists (1977), Excalibur (1981), Rob Roy (1995), and even TV’s Game of Thrones (2011-19). Hobbs literally wrote the book on stage combat—actually three books, each a how-to bible in every choreographer’s library. Ryan met Hobbs by dumb luck. “He was there with a sword in one hand and

a cigarette in the other, and off we went. I had a certain aptitude for it, which he very kindly encouraged.” Ryan’s skills earned some secondary Shakespearean “fight and die” roles such as Tybalt and Paris, while he continued to sharpen his fighting skills. “In tandem I was training to do fights thinking it would be a second string to my bow and make me more employable as an actor. And in fact, I was far better at that than I was at acting.” This background in theater gives Ryan’s choreography a distinct edge. Most filmed fights have a lot of scene cuts. One move, one splice is technically easier to film than a dozenplus moves in a single shot. However, stage combat doesn’t have such luxury. Vikings: Valhalla consistently delivers longer fight sequences with the actors doing their own stunts. “I know Bill

VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

WE LIKE TO KEEP IT NICE AND BRUTAL.”

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Hobbs worked in film,” says Ryan, “but he also worked in theater and my background was starting in theater. And so as we go through it, we’re trying to get people ready to perform the fight in its entirety. That’s our goal. We’re always trying to get the actors ready to perform the fight from top to tail.”

FORGING WEAPONS: THE SECRET OF THE SWORD

Below: Leo Suter as Harald gets stuck into the action during a fight scene. Bottom, left to right: Some of the weapons and shields used in the show, created by John McKenna’s armory department.

An extra challenge of a prolonged fight scene is that it’s exhausting, even for fit stuntpeople. “They kind of go suddenly, ‘Oh Jesus, these are heavy,’” says armorer John McKenna about prop weapons. McKenna doesn’t hammer steel blades in a fiery forge. He traded his anvil for CNC machines (a machine that uses a program to control tools for precision working) long ago. “The steel blades haven’t seen action in 20-30 years now. You couldn’t even get on-set with them. You’d be just thrown off.” McKenna continues: “You’ll be horrified to know we don’t even use metal in the show anymore. We’re in the world of bamboo.” Bamboo blades are set in two types of hilts on Vikings: Valhalla. Background characters get hilts of rubber. Leading roles are upgraded to solid bronze castings. “The background can use it. The cast can use it, and the stunt guys just love it. It’s lightweight. It paints up as best you can.” When a blade breaks, and they often do, it’s replaced with a twist of an Allen key. The original Vikings series began on the History Channel, so Vikings: Valhalla still strives for accuracy. “We’re trying to keep the weapons as historically correct as we can,” claims McKenna. “The swords are based on finds. They’re museum pieces that have been regenerated and dialed up and looked at. They’ll look as close as possible to Viking weapons of that time.”

BLOODY BATTLES

Action is so essential to Vikings: Valhalla that Ryan’s name appears before the cast’s in the end credits.

Like McKenna, he aims for historical accuracy too, but it’s trickier because the Vikings didn’t leave any notable treatises on how they fought. “I’ll research as much as I can and talk to friends that I have in the HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) world, and people who are much more cognizant of history than I.” However, Vikings: Valhalla is not a documentary, so Ryan prioritizes keeping the action fresh. “You need to do something slightly different, so you’re not repeating the same musical number, as it were, over and over and over.” Ryan’s focus is on creating “a truthful fight,” one that captivates the audience while moving the story forward. “I’ll sprinkle it with historical authenticity, but that’s not going to be my main driver. Sorry to anybody who is upset by that.” Viking ruthlessness is legendary, so Vikings: Valhalla is full of slit throats and axe chops to the face. “We like to keep it nice and brutal,” confesses Ryan. “There’ll be certain beats and elements that have to be in there, that the character maybe has to be wounded on the left thigh, or run through the right shoulder, or whatever it might be.” The gratuitous carnage is often driven by the effects team. “They’ll go, ‘Hey, how about this?’ And then we’ll go, ‘Oh yeah, let’s work that in.’” Ryan prefers real blood splatter as opposed to post-production special effects. “We’re trying to use the ‘real’ wherever possible,” he explains. “So when we’re doing anything that’s a battle or a fight, you’ll certainly have somebody spritzing blood as they go through.” Discerning viewers can tell when it’s CGI blood. “A beheading or whatever would be more digital,” concedes Ryan, but actual spraying blood draws a more authentic reaction from the actors: “It’s more visceral when they get that as they go, even though they might be sticky by the end of the day.” He says the actors sometimes complain about getting so bloody, especially on hot days when stage blood gets stickier, or if there are wasps. “There’s sugar in it, so it might attract them.”

VIKINGS: VALHALLA EDITION | DEN OF GEEK

Above: Frida Gustavsson as Freydis (right) gets into fight mode in episode six. Below: A battlefield casualty gets prepped for filming.

With brutal battles peppering every episode of season one, it’s tough to spotlight just one. But the spectacular mid-season melee is a noteworthy centerpiece—an attack on London Bridge. It’s a testament to Ryan’s sanguineous artistry. “That one was tricky just because you’re on a bridge, you’ve got horses galloping, with stunts and extras. So there’s a couple hundred-plus people on there, as well as horses. So that’s always challenging because horses have a mind of their own.” Armorer McKenna agrees. It’s his job to arm all those fighters. “It’s big,” says McKenna. “It’s maybe 200 swords, maybe 100 axes. There’s nearly, what, 200, 300, 400 shields by the time you count them all up? 40 or 50 knives. You’re talking several hundred pieces, plus spares, as in blades. A lot of everything.”

SUSTAINABLE STUNTS Many series have hinged upon top-quality fight choreography, but it’s harder to manage on television than it is in movies, as Ryan explains. “If you’re doing a film, you may have

10 or 12 major events to choreograph,” he explains of the process. “And then as you’re going through, you are checking them off and you’re doing it, and you’re moving on to the next one. But on an ongoing series, it’s relentless. You’ll have 12 major things for an episode. You’ll cross off three, and you’ll go back to your list, and you’ll have 15 because the next episode is coming at you.” This is why so many fight-based

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shows fail: they gas out. Ryan credits his principal fight team—Mathew McKay, Michael Redmond, Lee McDermott, and Jinny Lofthouse— with helping them make it through to the end. McKenna is thrilled to keep making weapons as long as Vikings: Valhalla runs. “Whatever the scripts throw at us, we will endeavor, always, to come up with answers,” he says. “Take it as it comes, one weapon at a time.”

IMAGE CREDITS: BERNARD WALSH / NETFLIX

LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN