You can now relive the magic of Vikings on Netflix. The History series is available to stream in full. We take a look at why it ended when it did.
Vikings was one of those shows that landed a few early renewals. One of them was for Season 6 ahead of the Season 5 premiere. It wasn’t all that surprising at the time, but that was the beginning of the end for the series.
History later made the decision not to renew the show for a seventh season. In fact, the second half of the season didn’t even air on History. It dropped on Prime Video instead, and this may hint to the reason behind the cancellation.
At least writer and creator Michael Hirst was given some warning. He was able to craft an ending for the series, and he then landed the sequel series on Netflix called Vikings: Valhalla.
Why Vikings ended after six seasons
The cancellation came as there was a decline in viewership. This started after Season 4, which saw the end of Ragnar Lothbrok. There is no denying that Ragnar was the main reason people tuned into the series in the first place.
Of course, to follow history, Ragnar did have to die. Hirst also spent time developing Ragnar’s sons to continue the story of this dynasty. Sadly, the adult versions of the children didn’t gain the same audience following as Ragnar did. Lagertha had a sort of following but it wasn’t enough to keep the series going. Even Floki didn’t quite keep his following as he moved from Kattegat to Iceland.
This was also one of those shows that was in danger of overstaying its welcome. Eventually, all good things have to come to an end. It’s better to bring them to an end when people want more instead of dragging storylines on.
Michael Hirst did manage to keep the world of Vikings alive with the sequel series. Vikings: Valhalla has two seasons out already with the third and final season getting ready to be released.