When Vikings was first released on the History Channel in 2013, nobody could have anticipated how successful it would become. It went on to run for 89 episodes over six seasons, and led to the spinoff, Vikings: Valhalla on Netflix in 2022.
Both series have now finished, but that’s not the end for the Norse franchise. Indeed, it was recently reported that
Vikings One of the Most Influential Series of Recent Times
Vikings was once deemed an inferior alternative to Game of Thrones, which was airing at the same time. As the seasons progressed, though, Michael Hirst’s offering grew into an epic work of its own, which was vastly different to the HBO fantasy and more grounded in real Viking history.
The great thing about Vikings was that it immersed viewers in the era and perfectly encapsulated how the people lived. Due to the success of Vikings, it inspired various other historical works in the years since. For example, The Last Kingdom and Black Sails both found a huge audience that was keen to enjoy more historical content.
The popularity of Vikings also spread out into gaming, where various much-loved titles were inspired by the TV series’ success. God of War famously moved from Ancient Greek mythology to Norse Mythology, and Assassin’s Creed also ventured into Viking territory with Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Vikings spread out into the online casino industry too, where there are even roulette online games such as Vikings Multifire Roulette based on the period.
Spinoff Moving Over to Amazon
Amazon has a lot of huge projects in the pipeline, and Bloodaxe is up there with the most intriguing. The move to a different streaming service is an exciting development, as Amazon is notorious for pumping millions into the series it thinks will be successful. For example, the first season of The Rings of Power cost more than the entire Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy.
After the popularity of Vikings and Vikings: Valhalla, Amazon may be expecting Bloodaxe to be a major series for the platform. Early reports suggest that the series could focus on the legendary Eric Bloodaxe, who was the King of Norway and then later the King of Northumbria. This would put it between the other two existing Viking series in the timeline, covering a period that was skipped over when the original jumped to the era of Vikings: Valhalla.
With Bloodaxe focusing on a completely uncovered period, it means that there’s plenty of potential for fresh storylines. There’s even a chance that this could lead to its own spinoffs, with Amazon developing its own Viking universe.
The Viking era is now such a popular period of history in entertainment, and viewers are desperate for more content based on the Norse seafarers. Bloodaxe has the potential to be an epic new Viking-themed series, and Amazon will most likely want to milk it for all it’s worth.
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