Ever since its premiere on February 25, Vikings: Valhalla has taken the Internet by surprise and by storm—much like one of the Vikings raids featured both in this show and its prequel, History Channel’s Vikings, which aired from 2013 to 2020 for a total of six seasons. During its runtime, Vikings sparked a wide interest in the culture and main figures of the Viking Age, and it seems clear that Valhalla is headed in that same direction and rekindling that same fire.
It makes sense since the events in Valhalla are set one century after those in Vikings but very much in the same world. Vikings told the story of the beginning of the Viking Age, with Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel), Lagertha (Kathryn Winnick), their children, and their clan leaving Kattegat to explore and raid on the rest of Europe, making the Norsemen presence to be feared and admired. Valhalla, on the other hand, is set very close to the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the canonical end of the Viking Age.
Two of the characters in Valhalla actually are strictly tied to that battle—Hardrada Sigurdsson (Leo Suter) will be defeated at Stamford Bridge by the son of Earl Godwin (David Oakes). Valhalla also focuses on the two children of Erik the Red, Leif Erikson (Sam Corlett), the first European to set foot in North America, and Freydís Eriksdottir (Frida Gustavsson), who will defend the Old Norse religion in the rise of Christianity throughout Scandinavia.
Since the story of Valhalla follows the events of Vikings, it should be no surprise that the show was filmed in the same locations. After all, the town of Kattegat is an important place in both series—and it’s precisely to Kattegat that the production of Valhalla has returned. Or, well, to the real-life equivalent of Kattegat, meaning County Wicklow in Ireland. The village of Ashford, in County Wicklow, hosts the Ashford Studios, where Kattegat was recreated and most of the shooting for both Vikings and Valhalla was done.
The locations on Vikings: Valhalla’s IMDb page feature only Ireland for now, but we know from the previous seasons of Vikings that the production could always expand—throughout the show’s six seasons, filming locations have included Iceland, Morocco, Canada, and Norway as the characters moved throughout Europe. Considering how a good part of Leif Erikson’s storyline will focus on his travel to North America, we can be pretty sure that the list of locations for Vikings: Valhalla will expand with the following seasons.
Vikings: Valhalla is currently streaming on Netflix—the first season consists of eight episodes and it seems like a third one is in the works, with the production of season two already wrapped.
(via: ScreenRant; image: Netflix)
