I was initially excited about Vikings: Valhalla, being a fan of the original. However, it took so long to get here that I must admit I lost interest… and that pretty much sums up how I feel about it actually. Created by Jeb Stuart, this show stars Sam Corlett, Frida Gustavsson, Leo Suter and others, and released on February 25, 2022 as a Netflix Original.
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Vikings: Valhalla picks up a century after the adventures of Ragnar and his brood. It’s even centered around one of King Harald Fine Hair’s descendants Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter) as well as Rollo’s, Queen Emma of Normandy (Laura Berlin). Their stories intertwine with legendary Viking explorer Leif Erikson (Sam Corlett) and his sister Freydis Erikdottir (Frida Gustavsson).
Vikings: Valhalla is a mere shade of the original and misses a lot of ingredients. For one thing, a charismatic lead like Travis Fimmel in his role as Ragnar (or even Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred of Bebbanburg to reference another Viking related show). This spinoff focuses on too many characters at once, none of which present themself as a viable anchor. The characters have no real depth and even though we know where the story is headed historically (supposedly), there’s no real direction.
Without these ingredients it’s just another medieval political show that the audience will soon grow tired of. I was bored half the time watching it. There are pacing issues towards the middle (like with a lot of these new Netflix series) that don’t make it an easy watch. The only area it has any real depth, is in religion. Funny enough, the only bit they took from the original.
In this very contentious time, at the height of the conflict between the Saxons and Vikings, many Vikings converted to Christianity. The struggle between their old ways and beliefs inevitably crossed. Vikings had always excelled with its female characters. Strong, cunning and resilient. Emma, Freydis and Liv. In fact, I feel like this show is more about the women than the men. They’re certainly more interesting, though I am glad to see David Oakes on screen again as Godwin. He was great in The Pillars of the Earth and The Borgias.
I guess the costumes and set are decent… they certainly had a bigger budget than the first few seasons of the original combined. But as Vikings proved, it’s not always about the budget and camera tricks. Watch ‘Vikings: Valhalla’ on Netflix here.
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