“Vikings” has been renewed for Season 6 at History before the show’s fifth season has even premiered, the network announced Tuesday.
History has ordered a 20 episode sixth season of the drama series, with production slated to begin this fall in Ireland. The first half of Season 5 will premiere on Nov. 29, with the second half airing in 2018. In addition, series regular Katheryn Winnick will make her directorial debut in Season 6, helming one episode.
The Season 5 cast includes series regulars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who joined this season as Bishop Heahmund, along with Winnick, Gustaf Skarsgård, Alexander Ludwig, Alex Høgh Andersen, Jordan Smith and Marco Ilso.
Michael Hirst created the series and also serves as its sole writer and executive producer. Morgan O’Sullivan of World 2000, Sheila Hockin, John Weber of Take 5 Productions, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, and James Flynn also serve as executive producers. Arturo Interian serves as the executive in charge of production for History. “Vikings” is an international Irish/Canadian co-production by World 2000 and Take 5 Productions. MGM Television serves as the worldwide distributor outside of Ireland and Canada. “Vikings” is produced in association with Corus Entertainment.
“It has been my pleasure and my privilege to work with History and our partner MGM over five seasons and 69 episodes of ‘Vikings.’ Now we are ready to begin production of a 20 episode season six that will deliver a huge and unexpected revelation to our audience,” said Hirst. “There are many reasons why I love this show, not least for the commitment and creativity of everyone involved in making it, but perhaps even more important is the spirit that drives this production – one of the happiest, most collaborative and most authentic productions I have ever been involved with. And so we sail on.”
Across all platforms, Season 4 of “Vikings” averaged 7.8 million viewers per episode. It is also a top-five drama across ad supported cable and averaged 4.1 million total viewers last season in Live+7.
“‘Vikings’ has creatively sailed to monumental lengths. The series has evolved from early raids in England, to the heart-stopping death of Ragnar Lothbrok, to the fierce battles of the Great Heathen Army, and now we’ll see the sons of Ragnar exploring and conquering the known world,” said Eli Lehrer, executive vice president of programming for History. “Michael Hirst has only scratched the surface of his epic saga. 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.”
(Pictured: Katheryn Winnick)
via - Variety