'Bloodaxe' Rounds Out Cast with Filming Underway

It was over a decade ago, in 2013, that Michael Hirst's Vikings debuted on the American cable network known as The History Channel. Nicknamed "The Hitler Channel" for the sheer amount of World War II-focused series that dominated its lineup, Vikings was The History Channel's first attempt at a big-budget historical drama... and thanks to the streaming wars that broke out in the following months, also its last. Owned by A&E Networks (which itself was a company jointly owned by Herst and Disney), it had no streaming service on which to put Vikings, so the series wound up on Netflix. 

Unsurprisingly, Hirst's sequel series follow-up, Vikings: Valhalla, was then greenlit by Netflix after the parent series concluded with its sixth season in 2019. Delayed due to the pandemic, Vahalla finally arrived in 2022, but mainly flew under the radar, especially for American audiences, who had either stopped watching the History Channel years before the show concluded, or never watched in the first place. Unsurprisingly, Netflix canceled the show as soon as its initially contracted three seasons were up.

With The History Channel a non-starter and Netflix pulling the plug, Hirst simply did what any sensible person would do: drove across town to Amazon Studios, where people with more money than sense desperately need franchises that have actual viewership. The rights to the Vikings name are tied up over at Netflix, but Prime Video greenlit the next installment, Bloodaxe, and is aiming to bring the period drama back in a big way.

Here's the series synopsis:

Bloodaxe is an epic historical drama, created, written, and executive produced by Michael and Horatio Hirst, which chronicles the rise of one of history’s most famous Norse raiders, Erik Bloodaxe, and his formidable wife, Gunnhild, Mother of Kings. As they fight for the throne of Norway, the land is torn apart by fierce rivals, shifting loyalties, and bloody betrayals. 

With war looming and chaos consuming the kingdom, drawing in the ruthless Kings of other Scandinavian countries, and even a powerful English ruler, the stage is set for a thundering, cataclysmic, compelling, and utterly magical new Norse Saga.

Australian reality star-turned actor Xavier Molyneux (Neighbours) and British actor Jessica Masden (Bridgerton) were previously announced as playing famous Viking warrior Erik Haraldsson, aka the titular Erik Bloodaxe, and his wife, Gunnhild, Mother of Kings. They will be joined by British actor Rod Hallett (The Last Kingdom) as Athelstan, King of Wessex; Danish actor Jesper Christensen (James Bond) portrays King Harald Fairhair, the First King of all Norway; Norwegian actor Rune Temte (Time Bandits) and Danish actor Sisse Marie (Siren) as Gunnhild's parents, Gorm and Thyra, the King and Queen of Denmark. 

Additionally, Latvian actor Karlis Arnolds Avots, whose star turn in Soviet Jeans just arrived on PBS Passport, co-stars as Egil, a sorcerer bent on revenge on Bloodaxe, and Finnish-Russian actor Alina Tomnikov (The Worst Idea Ever) will take on the dual roles of Greta and The Seer.

The series was created by the father-son team of Michael and Horatio Hirst, who also serve as showrunners, writers, and executive producers. Additional executive producers include Steve Stark under his Toluca Pictures label, Arturo Interian, Morgan O’Sullivan, John Weber, and Sheila Hockin.

Bloodaxe is expected to debut on Amazon's Prime Video in 2026. All previous installments of the Vikings franchise are available to stream on Netflix.