Stream It or Skip It: ‘Vikings: Valhalla’ On Netflix, A ‘Vikings’ Sequel Centering On Leif Erickson And A Nordic War Against England

Vikings was a big hit for the History channel because showrunner Michael Hirst created a show with well-defined characters and plots. Now, Netflix gets into the Nordic adventure game with a follow-up, Vikings: Valhalla, which takes place 100 years after the events of the original show. Is the story as good?

VIKINGS: VALHALLA: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Lots of expository text about the 100 years of Ragnar Lothbrok’s adventures. Vikings have settled around Europe, especially in England. Because the Nordic population has become a threat to England’s King Aethelred II, a solution had to be created.

The Gist: In a Viking settlement near London, Prince Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter) is getting a sent off. He’s making his way back to Kattegat, Norway. His older brother would like to see him off, but he has been summoned to London by the king. This is where the king announces that he’s going to eliminate ever Nordic person from his island, and a slaughter begins. The men summoned to the king are killed and the settlement is invaded by troops and set on fire.

We then cut to a violent sea, and a small boat trying to navigate during a storm. A group of sailors from Greenland, led by Leif Erickson (Sam Corlett) and his sister, Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson) are making the tough trip to Norway for a reason, and it has nothing to do with the massacre that took place in England. Erickson goes to a tavern looking for a man wearing a cross. In other words, one of the Vikings that practice Christianity.

Sigurdsson, though, is there for that very reason. But first, he flirts with Freydis as she gets the boat docked. When they sleep together, and she goes into the bath, she shows him the massive cross-shaped scar on her back. That’s when she tells Sigurdsson that a Christian Viking raped her and carved that cross in her back. He hides his cross, even though he isn’t the man who did the heinous deed.

When Sigurdsson greets his half-brother, Olaf Haraldsson (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), Freydis identifies him as the man who raped her. Instead of attacking him there, Erickson tells his sister to follow them to their encampment. There, they see hundreds of Vikings in an organized camp, led by King Canute (Bradley Freegard). The army is being organized to start a war with England as revenge for the massacre.

Haraldsson is there to offer his strategic services, as he and his people designed the defense system in England, under one condition: Since he refuses to fight with the non-Christian pagans, he wants them all to be converted. Canute turns him down flat, and Sigurdsson goes to his half brother and appeals to his sense of greed: Surely Jesus can forgive him if he can plunder the Brits for all of their gold.

As King Canute rallies the troops, Christian and pagan Vikings square off. Sigurdsson makes the peace by telling the group that this is something that all Vikings should rally behind, as the massacre was a direct hit on their society. Earlier in the day, Sigurdsson saw Erickson take on a group of men who wanted revenge for deeds done by Erickson’s father, Erik the Red, and thinks he’d be a good sailor to go on this England mission. But when Freydis gets her revenge on her attacker, things change.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Vikings: Valhalla is a follow-up to the 2013-20 History series Vikings, which took place during Ragnar’s era. Jeb Stuart takes over showrunning duties from Michael Hirst, but the tone and look is similar.

Our Take: What distinguishes Vikings: Valhalla from other shows set during medieval time periods is the same thing that distinguished the original series: Well-defined characters and a good sense who the protagonists and antagonists are. The story itself, at least in the first episode, is pretty clear. Erickson and Freydis are there for revenge, and Sigurdsson is set to take his revenge on the British king that killed his family and other Vikings.

It seems that most of the first season’s focus will be on the journey to England and the battle to get vengeance on the king. That focus will give Stuart and his writers the chance to focus on some of the relationships that are fostered, like Freydis and Sigurdsson, and will also show just how well Erickson is suited to the task.

Will it hew close to the known history about the Vikings of that period? Probably not. But we really don’t care, as we’re more interested in the narrative than if the characters are true to their history. The performances of Corlett, Suter and Gustavsson are all on point for a show like this: Stoic with just a bit of emotion poking through.

One thing that you’ll likely notice is that Vikings: Valhalla has a lot of testosterone flowing through it. We hope that we see more women than Freydis and city-state ruler Jarl Estrid Haakon (Caroline Henderson) joining in the action.

Sex and Skin: We see Freydis and Sigurdsson having sex, right before she gets into a bath. Neither of them are completely naked, though.

Parting Shot: After Freydis’ attack, Sigurdsson tells her to show the crowd her scar to show what was done to her. Canute tells the crowd he’ll make a judgement in the morning.

Sleeper Star: Henderson, as Haakon, makes an impression in her scenes, especially when the group visits her city and that melee breaks out.

Most Pilot-y Line: A maid fills the bathtub while Sigurdsson and Freydis have sex. If I had that bath wench’s job, I’d draw the line of being in the room with two people having sex with each other.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Just like its parent show, Vikings: Valhalla is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But for fans of the genre, Valhalla does a good job of continuing the story established in Vikings.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.