When we last left Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson), Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter) and Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett), they were victorious in the battle for Kattegat, but not without casualties on their own side. Vikings: Valhalla is back for season 2 to continue the story of the historical adventurers.
The cast of Vikings: Valhalla and creator Jeb Stuart spoke with Rotten Tomatoes about season 2. Here are seven things to look forward to this season on Vikings: Valhalla, now streaming on Netflix.
(Photo by Netflix)
Freydis defeated Jarl Kåre in battle. Harald has been injured and Leif is still reeling from the death of Liv, but season 2 begins a month later.
“It starts about a month after the fall of Kattegat,” Stuart said. “So Harald’s wounds are healing. Leif is devastated at the loss of the love of his life. And Olaf is on the run from King Forkbeard.”
Freydis is not exactly taking a victory lap either.
“More or less, everyone she loves is dead,” Gustavsson said. “She’s lost Jarl Haakon, all of the shield maidens, Kattegat is just bloodshed. And she makes a quick decision. She sees Harald on the floor bleeding out and she says, ‘I’m going to save him. We’re going to get out of here.’ She has to deal with the consequences of that decision quite severely. Those are big shoes to fill to be the leader of the Pagans and something she really struggles with.”
(Photo by Netflix)
Kattegat was the centerpiece of season 1. For season 2, Stuart is exploring the bigger world around Kattegat.
“Everybody’s a Viking in Kattegat,” Stuart said. “What happens when you have to take that show on the road? Season 2, historically, Harald Sigurdsson who made that great journey, he became a fugitive out of Scandinavia. He went to Novgorad in the northern part of the Rus.”
Stuart promises new dangers along the journey.
“It becomes a road movie for season 2,” Stuart said. “I think tough stuff happens on these road movies. Just look at Thelma and Louise.”
(Photo by Bernard Walsh/Netflix)
Vikings: Valhalla announced the casting of Hayat Kamile as Mariam. Corlett confirmed Leif has scenes with her.
“A key that opens Leif’s heart even more this season is found in a lady called Mariam, an astronomer from Constantinople, from Aleppo,” Corlett said. “She teaches him a lot of the wisdom and knowledge and he kind of picks up a little Arabic, picks up a little Latin, learns how to use an astrolabe to navigate the ship down the Neva. Essentially acquiring the tools, knowledge and wisdom to take the big journey that he’s known for in history.”
(Photo by Bernard Walsh/Netflix)
Freydis and Harald are bonding at the beginning of season 2; however, both Suter and Gustavsson cautioned fans not to get too attached to them as a couple.
“We’re in this cottage in the woods and life is beautiful,” Suter said. “We’re shooting a deer and cooking over a nice fire. My wound is getting better, but I think these two characters realize that they’ve got great destinies ahead of them, and they’re not meant to be hiding in the woods. Whatever’s going on out there in the world, they’re going to have to go meet it head on.”
Gustavsson added, “There’s a time limit almost. We know this is a bubble that’s eventually going to burst. They want to squeeze out the last of it, but it’s a difficult decision. What brought us together is ultimately what’s going to pull us apart which is we have both our individual destinies to fulfill. Unfortunately, it’s not the same things.”
(Photo by Netflix)
If you liked that final battle in Kattegat, wait until you see what Vikings: Valhalla has in store for season 2. One battle scene involved flaming arrows swarming the beach.
“Over certain parts of Scandinavia, and the northern part of Europe and Pomerania, that they had these incredible turpentine mines and pits,” Stuart said. “They were putting them into stuff. We know the Byzantines already had Greek fire and all this kind of stuff. You start sitting there as a writer thinking hmm, turpentine pits. These things that they carried it in. They had these great catapults. Wonder what could happen if you put all those things together. Anyway, lot of fun.”
(Photo by Netflix)
The action of Vikings: Valhalla isn’t all on the battlefield. Suter said Harald gets into an underground fight club bout. Fortunately, we can talk about fight club in the Viking era.
“I’ve put the weapons down and gamble everything on a boxing match, on a wrestling match,” Suter said. “That was really good fun to choreograph and get to grips with because the stunt guys who put it together, Lee [McDermott], it’s sort of his brainchild. He comes from a martial arts background. He was putting in some serious moves. I’ve never don’t martial arts before.”
Unlike modern-day sanctioned matches, anything goes on Vikings: Valhalla.
“I think the rules were no holds barred,” Suter said. “Kicks and punches and elbows, anything. You name it, anything goes.”
(Photo by Netflix)
The show may be called Vikings: Valhalla, but that doesn’t mean every character believes in the Viking afterlife. Liv asked Leif to believe in it for her on her deathbed, but he’s still struggling with it in season 2.
“That’s the crisis of faith that he’s in,” Corlett said. “I think having grown up on the outskirts of Viking world, there was a sense of faith. As his world opens up, he sees the use of faith for one’s self-gain and that’s something he doesn’t agree with. I think just as a child becomes aware of the world and is overwhelmed with the way things are operating even today, that’s kind of what happens as Leif comes to the broader Viking world. He’s seeking for someone to be a mentor in a way. He’s seeking for a way of being that is true to him, and I think in his grounding with Freydis and with Harald’s clear sense of purpose, there’s a balance that’s found within him that excites his soul to continue.”
Stuart said if Leif were ever going to believe in Valhalla, Liv’s death would have been the moment to do it.
“The jury’s out at the start of season 2,” Stuart said. “I think if he had a real belief in it, he would have come over right at that moment and he didn’t. And I think that’s haunting him. What we find for Leif at the start of season 2 is sometimes it’s better to channel all that anger into what we call Old Testament Leif which is I’m going to get back at Olaf for this loss than it is to really start to ask yourself that question. But he’s forced to ask himself that question this year.”
100%
Vikings: Valhalla: Season 2
(2023)
is now streaming on Netflix.
