Vikings season 6B coming to Amazon first is the latest example of streaming winning over Cable

Amazon Prime viewers are the lucky ones this holiday season, as the entire second half of Vikings season six hits the streamer this month, ahead of the History Channel.

The glorious series Vikings will come to an end this year, with the final season’s second half heading to Amazon Prime Video before the History Channel, which served as the historic drama’s home for so long.

In some ways, it’s a surprising decision considering that Vikings was a smash hit for the channel, helping the History Channel redefine itself as a platform for original content. However, Amazon has housed every season of the drama, including the first part of the sixth season. They’ve always aired them in coordinated fashion, following the release of episodes on the History Channel first. Now Amazon will be taking on exclusive availability of Vikings season six B, releasing the new episodes on December 30. The History Channel won’t air them until 2021.

“Prime Video has already delighted Prime members with all five and a half seasons of Vikings,” said Brad Beale, VP worldwide content licensing at Amazon, according to IGN. “On December 30, Prime members in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Austria and Ireland will be the first to learn the fates of the beloved characters as the epic drama concludes in the final 10 episodes.”

Prepare for a Tearful Ending

It’s been a wild ride for the hugely successful series. Vikings is the standard bearer for historic series (no, it’s not Game of Thrones, that would be a fictional series loosely based on historic themes), beginning with a powerhouse performance by Travis Fimmel.

Fimmel’s Ragnar Lothbrok is long dead, but the storyline has since followed the fascinating paths of his sons Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig), Ivar the Boness (Alex Høgh Andersen), Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith), and Hvitserk (Marco Ilsø). Bjorn is coming back from near-dead to battle for his homeland. Along with King Harald (Peter Franzen), Bjorn will  have to defend against the formidable force of Ivan’s, who has teamed up with the Rus forces of Oleg (Danila Kozlovsky) in order to take over Norway.

"“Our monumental Vikings saga is coming to its conclusion, but not before you’ve had to chance to watch some of my all-time favorite episodes,” said Vikings series creator and showrunner Michael Hirst, via MSN. “Prime Video will uniquely expose the series finale to a streaming audience first. Prepare to be astonished, and for many surprises along the way. And if you have tears to shed, then also be prepared to shed them.”"

More Vikings Entertainment Coming

Although Vikings is ending, the window into the Norse warrior world is far from closed. If you thought it was over with the Lothbrok storyline, think again. Michael Hirst is helming yet another Vikings series, this time for Netflix: Vikings: Valhalla, which we’re super excited about.

The Netflix series is set 100 years after Vikings, centering around famous Vikings Leif Ericson, Freydis, and Harald Harada. In addition to these Nordic icons, Valhalla will also incorporate William the Conqueror, who is a descendant of the real-life Rollo, so who knows? Perhaps we will see Clive Standen return to the role of Rollo in a flashback of some sort.

Hirst is certainly keeping busy. He’s executive producing a series about the worst outbreaks of the bubonic plague, The Plague Year, set in 1665 London, for A+E Studios.

Vikings: Valhalla is set to premiere on Netflix sometime in 2021. If you need to catchup on the original series, all full five seasons — and the first half of season six — are available on Amazon Prime Video.

Season 6B of Vikings premieres on Amazon on December 30, and it’s just the sort of binge show we need to delve into to put this year behind us. Are you sad to see the show go? What are you looking forward to most in the final season?