Much to fans’ surprise, Vikings season 5 didn’t give Queen Freydis her much-deserved happy ending. But despite her character’s premature death, actress Alicia Agneson has confirmed that she will be returning for the show’s sixth and final season, which is set to premier later this year.
In a recent Instagram post, Agneson; shared photos of herself on set, with a brand new look to boot. Since the season 6 trailer, fans have already spotted the character’s distinctly darker hair, leading them to speculate on some possible outcomes for the young maven.
Could this mean Freydis is coming back from the grave? For now, the most likely answer may be that Agneson has simply returned to play another character who looks very much like the fallen Freydis, which fans claim might be a way to depict her love interest Ivar’s delusional foray into the darkness. Was her death a necessary pawn leading to the crazed tyrant’s downfall? Or is it simply a foreshadowing for something even bigger?
They are many lingering questions that can only be answered in the upcoming season. Teasing the final chapters, Vikings writer and producer Michael Hirst has told viewers to gear up for the grandest season ever, with all twenty episodes going to three “completely new” worlds.
“It’s one of the biggest shows in the world now, and I got the opportunity to finish my saga of Ragnar and his sons,” Hirst told Entertainment Tonight. “That was my love, the story I wanted to tell.”
Vikings is History Channel’s first originally scripted series and is one of its most popular programs to date. The premiere raked in 4.6 million viewers, making it the highest rated cable series on Thursday nights. Time and again, the show has been compared to fellow Hollywood favorite Game of Thrones. But despite having a similar formula that includes medieval warfare, sex, and mythology, Vikings has carved out a name for itself, following the historical rise of Ragnar Lodbrok and his Norsemen. As legend and lore would have it, Norse culture is one founded on the glory of war, and the show revels in the bloodthirsty nature of its world.
For the most part, many aspects of Norse culture depicted in the show are true to life, such as the characters’ hair and makeup, and the general story of Ragnar Lodbrok’s life. This certainly isn’t the first time Norse culture has made for interesting fiction. One of the more mainstream Norse heroes is none other than Marvel Comics’ superhero Thor, who writer Stan Lee based on the Viking god of the same name. Norsemen also make an appearance in the popular Neil Gaiman book, American Gods, which has since been made it onto a television series for the FX channel. They’ve even made their way to Sandlot Games’ Vikings Go Berzerk, a slot game that showcases another version of Norse culture with a lot less gore than its television counterparts. And while some aspects of these pop culture materials have surely been dramatized for Hollywood, they have opened the door for viewers to discover the fascinating treasure trove that is Viking history. With its spectacular heritage, it’s no surprise why Norse culture makes for good plots on and offscreen.
Since Vikings has proven to be History’s best performing scripted series of all time, Hirst isn’t quite ready to close the books for good. The producer is already in talks to release a franchise continuation or spinoff with studio MGM Television, which will serve to expand the same universe.
