'Vikings' Season 6 Renewal News: History Renews Show Prior to Season 5 Premiere
History channel has renewed "Vikings" for its sixth season prior to the premiere of the upcoming fifth season.
"Michael Hirst has only scratched the surface of his epic saga," History's new executive vice president of programming Eli Lehrer said in a statement issued on Tuesday. "We look forward to continuing our partnership with one of the greatest writers in this era of Peak TV and entertaining our viewers with 40 new episodes over the next two seasons."
The network has ordered a 20-episode season six renewal for the historical drama series created by Michael Hirst. He is the sole writer of the show.
In a statement, the showrunner teased that "Vikings" season six will deliver a huge and unexpected revelation to our audience. As to what that is, he did not say.
Also in the sixth season, Katheryn Winnick, who plays the Viking shield maiden Lagertha Lothbrok, is slate to make her directorial debut. She will handle an episode in season 6. Details of it are sparse as of the moment.
"The Tudors" actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers has signed onto the show as Bishop Heahmund. His casting makes up for the latest season's farewells, including from Travis Fimmel who played the legendary Viking ruler Ragnar Lothbrok. Maude Hirst, the showrunner's daughter, who appeared on the series as Helga, also bade goodbye.
The cast of season 5 will include Winnick, Gustaf Skarsgård, Alexander Ludwig, Alex Høgh Andersen, Jordan Smith, and Marco Ilso.
The fourth season of the historical drama averaged 7.8 million viewers per episode. "Vikings" is also belongs to the top-five drama across ad-supported cable, where the show averaged a total of 4.1 million viewers.
The first half of "Vikings" season 5 will air on Nov. 29 on the History channel. Its second half will premiere in 2018.
Production for season 6 will begin sometime this fall in Ireland.
