Country of origin Canada / Ireland Original network History | No. of episodes 10 | |
Original release February 27 (2014-02-27) – May 1, 2014 (2014-05-01) | ||
The second season of the historical drama television series Vikings premiered on February 27, 2014 on History in Canada, and concluded on May 1, 2014, consisting of 10 episodes.
Contents
Filmed in Ireland, Vikings is inspired by the tales about the Viking Ragnar Lothbrok, one of the best-known mythological Norse heroes and notorious as the scourge of France and England. It portrays Ragnar as a Viking farmer who pioneers the first daring raids into England, and eventually becomes a Scandinavian king, with the support of his family and fellow warriors: his brother Rollo, his son Björn Ironside, and his wives—the shieldmaiden Lagertha and the princess Aslaug. The second season follows Ragnar's rise from Earl to King.
Series overview
The series is inspired by the tales of the raiding, trading, and exploring Norsemen of early medieval Scandinavia. It follows the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew and family, as notably laid down in the 13th century sagas Ragnars saga Loðbrókar and Ragnarssona þáttr, as well as in Saxo Grammaticus's 12th century work Gesta Danorum. Norse legendary sagas were partially fictional tales based in Norse oral tradition, written down about 200 to 400 years after the events they describe. Further inspiration is taken from historical sources of the period, such as records of the Viking raid on Lindisfarne depicted in the second episode, or Ahmad ibn Fadlan's 10th-century account of the Volga Vikings. The series is set at the beginning of the Viking Age, marked by the Lindisfarne raid in 793.
Main
Recurring
Guest
Production
An Irish-Canadian co-production presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Vikings was developed and produced by Octagon Films and Take 5 Productions. Morgan O'Sullivan, Sheila Hockin, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, James Flynn, John Weber, and Michael Hirst are credited as executive producers. This season was produced by Steve Wakefield and Keith Thompson. Bill Goddard and Séamus McInerney act as co-producers.
The production team for this season includes casting directors Frank and Nuala Moiselle, costume designer Joan Bergin, visual effects supervisors Julian Parry and Dominic Remane, stunt action designers Franklin Henson and Richard Ryan, composer Trevor Morris, production designers Tom Conroy for the first to sixth episodes, and Mark Geraghty for the seventh to tenth episodes, editors Aaron Marshall for the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth episodes, and Don Cassidy for the second, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth episodes, and cinematographer Pj Dillon.
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 8.2/10 based on 13 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Vikings makes up for its slow pace with captivating characters and visual appeal". Metacritic which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 77 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".