Netflix's Vikings: Valhalla takes an action movie approach to the Vikings franchise

The A.V. Club

Die Hard and The Fugitive co-writer Jeb Stuart created the prequel to Vikings, and it shows. "As much as Vikings: Valhalla wants to cloak itself in historical trappings," says Dennis Perkins, "this spin-off series’ big picture cultural ambitions are more broadly drawn than even Vikings’ often ham-handed meld of melodrama and anthropology. It’s a relief that, at least in this first of four planned seasons, Stuart doesn’t continue (Vikings creator Michael) Hirst’s sometimes cringe-worthy efforts to dramatize the first contact of the Norse and Native Americans. (Look for Corlett’s Leif the Lucky to pick that thread up if Netflix actually allows Vikings: Valhalla to continue.) But despite Stuart intermittently aping Hirst’s penchant for velvety court intrigue couched in cherry-picked, spottily recorded historical record, the broad strokes concerning religion here are especially explicit, as Vikings: Valhalla shows how bullying, swordpoint Christian expansionism inevitably trumps even viking berserker bravery."

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• Vikings: Valhalla is a reminiscent of 1990s syndicated action shows: "I approached Vikings: Valhalla with a heavy skepticism," says Brian Tallerico. "Never a big fan of the History channel original and somewhat exhausted by period action tropes, I didn’t see what this sequel series could offer. And, yes, you have to have a high tolerance for cheesy dialogue to get into Valhalla, but there’s a healthy degree of old-fashioned charm in this show, one that reminded me of the action syndicated programs that played on weekend afternoons in my youth. There’s just enough pretension to make it clear that the creators take it seriously, but also a slight wink and a smile from most of the cast, who know this can’t be homework. Less history lesson and more theme park ride, Valhalla should absolutely appeal to fans of the original show, and might even end up making a few new ones."
• Vikings: Valhalla starts off slow, but ends its first season strongly: "I watched the first few episodes of Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla mostly fixating on all of the ways the semi-spinoff was failing to cross the tricky boundaries the original bridged," says Daniel Fienberg. "Then I watched the second half of the eight-episode season being relieved that even if Valhalla never quite reaches the heights of the Vikings mothership, the show it settles into becoming is pretty strong and satisfying on its own."
• Vikings: Valhalla has a narrative elegance and drive without sacrificing the pillaging, passionate sex, pagan rituals and political intrigue: "Over the show’s eight-episode first season (at least two more seasons are in the works), the conflicts are multitude," says Thelma Adams. "There’s the vengeance that drives the siblings from Greenland to the thriving and cosmopolitan port of Kattegat off the Baltic Sea in what’s now Denmark – where they discover an ally in Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter), the future King of Norway. There’s the pitched battle between the Old Norse gods and Christianity, both within Viking society and between the pagan Vikings and the English. There’s the dream of incorporating England into a Northern Empire held by King Canute (Bradley Freegard), who irks the existing English heir, Prince Edmund (Louis Davison), and seduces Edmund’s widowed stepmother, Queen Emma (Laura Berlin)."
• Vikings: Valhalla's brisk pace is its biggest asset: "Despite the heavy, often grim material at hand, Vikings: Valhalla rarely drags," says Caroline Framke. "It even occasionally finds bold ways of portraying what could be typical battles, such as the third episode’s attempted raid through dense marshes, in which a costly failure is lit almost seductively by torchlight."
• Vikings: Valhalla is fun, no more, no less: "Bit of history, bit of gore, bit of sex, bit of plot, lots of hair," says Lucy Mangan. "As mindless distraction at a gruelling time, it will be hard to beat. Wrap yourself in a direwolf rug – I may be crossing streams here – pour yourself a hornful of strong ale and enjoy. Skaal!"
• Here are the Vikings: Valhalla characters based on real Vikings
• Sam Corlett tapped into his family trauma to play Leif Eriksson
• Vikings: Valhalla creator Jeb Stuart wound up making the Vikings prequel series because of another Netflix show he was working on: “I was developing a show called The Liberator, and Morgan O’Sullivan, one of the executive producers for Vikings, had been slated to produce,” he tells Variety. “I wound up getting to know him well. During that time, we were going to shoot it over in Europe, and I would come and go through Ireland for a meeting or two, and would often pop down to the Vikings set and that’s how I got to meet (Vikings creator) Michael (Hirst).” Stuart ended up pitching the idea that Vikings could spawn spinoffs like the original Star Trek series.