Netflix Cancels Vikings: Valhalla And Kills The Franchise
Variety reports that Netflix has put an end to Vikings: Valhalla, stating that the series’ third season will be its last. Fans who have followed along with the adventures of Leif, Harald, and Freydis will have to bid them farewell next year. The lead time on the cancellation is somewhat unusual in the current age of sudden, unannounced plug-pulling on original series by Netflix and other streamers like Disney+, which might be some comfort to audiences and producers of the series.
Vikings: Valhalla is coming to an end, and with it, the franchise that started on the History Channel in 2013 is again off the air.
Vikings: Valhalla is based on the lives of the three most famous Vikings, and its goal to show their evolution is one executive producer Jeb Stuart says he believes the series has met. Expressing his gratitude for the three seasons he and his team had to tell the stories they wanted to tell, Stewart said in a statement that he hopes the audience will be excited by the new season when it premieres on Netflix. Reflecting on his time on the series, Stuart said the project began five years ago and entailed a lot of hard work by talented, creative people who hoped to craft a satisfying journey for audiences.
Netflix, like Disney, has a track record of canceling series like Vikings: Valhalla once they reach three seasons.
Given that Vikings: Valhalla is based on the lives of actual historical figures, Stuart noted there are always different stories that can be told and different parts of their lives that can be examined. However, from a story perspective, Stewart said the third season will provide a satisfying conclusion and an ending that makes sense. He expressed his enthusiasm for the upcoming season and the high anticipation he and his team have for viewers to be able to see the conclusion.
Vikings: Valhalla tells the story of the legendary lives of explorer Leif Eriksson, his sister Freydis Eriksdotter, and Harald Sigurdsson, a Nordic prince. The three main characters are portrayed in the series by Sam Corlett, Frida Gustavsson, and Leo Suter, respectively. But this is not the first series to explore the stories of famous Vikings, as Vikings: Valhalla was itself a spin-off of the History Channel series Vikings, which enjoyed an extensive, six-season run from March 2013 to December 2020.
Vikings: Valhalla executive producer Jeb Stuart explained the third season will tell a story with an ending that makes sense.
This predecessor to Vikings: Valhalla was a major step into scripted dramatic television for the History Channel and concerned itself with another of the best-known Viking heroes, Ragnar Lodbrok, who was known as the scourge of West Francia and Anglo-Saxon England. The series follows his beginnings as a farmer to his raid of England and his ascent to a Scandinavian throne. Later seasons portrayed the stories of Lodbrok’s sons as they spread across Scandinavia, Kievan Rus’, England, the Mediterranean, and North America.
Executive producers for Vikings: Valhalla included Stewart, Sheila Hockin, John Weber, Steve Stark, James Flynn, Sherry Marsh, Paul Buccieri, Alan Gasmer, and Michael Hirst, who was the creator of the original History Channel series. MGM Television produced the series for Netflix. The third and final season of Vikings: Valhalla is set to premiere on Netflix sometime in 2024.
