Comic-Con@Home: What we learned from the Vikings reunion, plus a sneak peak of season 6B

The Vikings reunion with Travis Fimmel (Ragnar), Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha), Clive Standen (Rollo), Alexander Ludwig (Bjorn), and Jordan Patrick Smith (Ubbe) was a fan’s dream.

At Comic-Con@Home, Ragnar and Lagertha descended down from Valhalla for just one more celebration, and I have to say, it gave me chills seeing both iconic characters chatting on Zoom. History Channel’s Vikings will always be personified by their chemistry, and Travis Fimmel’s tour-de-force performance is quite simply one of the best I’ve seen on TV, ever. It was amazing to see Fimmel reunited with cast members from History Channel’s most successful drama: Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) and Rollo (Clive Standen) joined by showrunner Michael Hirst and two of Ragnar’s sons, Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig) and Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith).

It wasn’t the same as sitting in packed Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center, but still there was plenty to celebrate, with the beloved cast reminiscing about the pivotal moments that meant so much to them, including two monumental deaths for Lagertha and Ragnar worthy of the gods. (I can still hear Ragnar’s words of rebellion being screamed at King Aelle.)

In Winnick’s voiceover, while her body ethereally floats to the bottom of the sea and joins Ragnar (and presumedly in Valhalla), Lagertha says, “In my dreams, we are always together,” lines which she spoke in her very first audition, a fascinating clip that demonstrated that the fabulous chemistry between her and Fimmel was there at the outset, bringing their relationship on the series “full circle,” she noted.

Fimmel remarked that two of them would be together in Valhalla. However, Winnick quipped that Ragnar would still be “in the dog house.” Ouch.

Ragnar Was Supposed to Die at the End of Season 1

Hirst also noted that he originally pitched the series Vikings with Ragnar dying at the end of the first season, and envisioning his story concept as only partly Ragnar’s story, but with the sons taking over sooner than they did. Hirst soon found there was too much to Ragnar’s story, and the revelatory character Fimmel created lasted four mesmerizing seasons.

Hirst also said it was a risk to bring on Fimmel and Winnick to begin with, but that doubts soon dissipated about Winnick once the network “suits” witnessed her emotional strength during her first fight at the beginning of the series. Hirst explained:

"“Of course, there were plenty of glowing, dooming warnings that to kill off your major character will damage the show. And it was a risk. I mean, Travis was a huge person with such a huge reputation. But I sold the show on the basis that this was Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons.”"

“Ragnar continued to be a presence in the rest of the show,” he added. “He never really went away.”

Welcome to the World of Vikings

Jordan Patrick Smith came onboard during season four and was quickly initiated in the first scene he shared with Fimmel, who got him used to the hard life of ruling among the Vikings of Kattegat.

“Travis slapped me in the face 45 times … He just kept doing it and doing it…” said Smith, recounting his first day on the set in Ireland. “My ear was ringing for days afterward. It was definitely a Vikings introduction.”

How Hirst Inspired One of the Greatest Moments From Fimmel

Fimmel’s Ragnar Lothbrok is one of the most indelible creations on television. Throughout the four seasons where we followed the farmer/warrior/leader/king/wanderer, Fimmel brought great pathos to the role. There are so many impressive scenes with him, it’s hard to narrow down his best scene, but the panel moderator, TV Guide’s Kate Hahn, noted that the most-viewed clip on YouTube that featured Ragnar was his heartbreaking goodbye to his daughter, Gyda, in season two, a scene that has always haunted me.

“It was written so beautifully. I don’t know, but it took me, like, three minutes to memorize that whole thing. It was just written so well,” said Fimmel.

But it was a Comic-Con panel so the poignant moment quickly segued into joking between Hirst and Fimmel, who were clearly happy to see each other again, even if it was remotely through Zoom.

“Obviously, you don’t have kids — as far as I know,” Hirst added.

“I’m not sure, either,” joked Fimmel.

“I was writing and literally thinking about a father talking to a dead daughter, and it becomes very powerful and very meaningful to me. It seemed from the start to be very meaningful to you too,” Hirst added.

How Much Influence Fimmel Had on the Show

Fimmel and Clive Standen discussed how they changed up their gut-wrenching fight during the siege of Paris. Originally choreographed to involve swords and more elaborate action, Standen remembered Fimmel suggesting they change the fight into a more brutal, fight-to-the-death moment that leaves Ragnar a shattered wreck, from which he never recovers.

“Travis said, ‘This needs to be between the brothers,'” Standen explained.

“We arranged to get rid of the swords as soon as possible, and just hit each other.”

Fimmel talked about the devastating scene, noting the “glimmer of hope his brother wouldn’t betray him, and as soon as that happened, it devastated his world, and it was the beginning of the end for his drive.”

Fimmel Was Just a Gift for Vikings

Vikings is one of the best television series ever, and if Comic-Con was live this year, the show’s panel would have been packed with people in Hall H, with fans waiting outside hoping to get in.

Fimmel lived, breathed, and inhabited the Viking in a ways that would have had the legend smiling from Valhalla himself. The Australian actor’s innate instincts helped propel the series into a sensational hit. Another example of this was highlighted in the panel when Fimmel and Hirst talked about his scene with his cherished friend Athelstan (George Blagden) teaching him the Lord’s Prayer. Astonishingly, Fimmel suggested that his character speak no lines in all his scenes of this episode, except for the pivotal moment with the monk, relegating his emotions to effective looks and mannerisms in other scenes, an extraordinarily risky tactic that worked.

The entire cast of Vikings is phenomenal, and the show has continued on with a stellar cast, including Smith’s Ubbe and of course Ludwig’s Bjorn, as it heads into the second half of the final season. We got a sneak clip of season six’s part B premiere.

Watch the clip here:

"“It was great to see these young actors as well coming along and taking their chances, and Alex [Ludwig] being a conduit between them … [who] was in the show the longest. The show is, in a sense, about his character more than anyone,” said Hirst."

You can watch the entire Vikings panel on YouTube. You can read more of what the cast had to say on ET as well. It will bring a smile to your face, and you’ll get to see the best themed background of any panel at Comic-Con@Home so far.

The final season of the Vikings saga, 6B, concludes later this year. Michael Hirst is working on a new Vikings series, Vikings: Valhalla, set 100 years later and centered around famous Viking Leif Erickson, for Netflix. Bonus: There’s a possibility that Katheryne Winnick may direct since she’s been moving in that direction as well. (Fingers crossed.)