11 Shows Like Vikings to Watch If You Like Vikings and Vikings: Valhalla

Vikings, the epic historic drama that made stars out of Travis Fimmel, Katheryn Winnick, and Alexander Ludwig, entered TV Valhalla with its collection finale in late 2020. However it solely took a few yr for the Vikings to invade your TV once more with the February 2022 premiere of Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla, a sequel collection set about 100 years after the occasions of Vikings. Vikings: Valhalla follows well-known historic figures like Leif Erikson (Sam Corlett), the primary European to achieve North America; his sister Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson), a fierce warrior who accompanied him on his journey; and Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter), a Norseman who aspires to overcome England. Valhalla comes from the identical producers (and extra importantly, the identical stunt coordinator) as the unique collection, and incorporates sword-clanging motion, complicated drama, and delightful costumes and manufacturing design. It is a worthy sequel to Vikings.

Netflix ordered 24 episodes of Vikings: Valhalla; and with the primary season consisting of eight episodes, it appears cheap to imagine that it there can be two extra seasons. So whereas we would not know precisely when Vikings: Valhalla Season 2 is coming, we all know that it positively will.

Within the meantime, we have put collectively a listing of reveals that each one followers of Vikings will get pleasure from. Not all are about vikings; some comply with different teams of warriors all through historical past, and a few characteristic extra of the medieval swords-and-shields battles that Vikings turned well-known for. In the event you’re right here for extra historical past or simply right here to see somebody get their head lower off, you will discover what you want in these reveals which might be just like Vikings and Vikings: Valhalla.

Searching for extra suggestions for what to look at subsequent? We’ve got a ton of them! And should you’re searching for extra hand-picked suggestions primarily based on TV reveals you’re keen on, we have now these too, in addition to suggestions for Netflix (motion pictures/reveals), Amazon Prime Video (motion pictures/reveals), Hulu (motion pictures/reveals), Disney+ (motion pictures/reveals), HBO Max (motion pictures/reveals), Apple TV+, and Peacock.

Barkskins

If it is a historic drama teeming with conniving factions at odds with one another that you simply’re searching for, positively take a look at the underrated Barkskins, which premiered to good critiques however had a quiet launch because of it airing on Nationwide Geographic in the course of the pandemic. The collection options Vikings‘ best trademark — unkempt males within the wilds making an attempt to kill one another in new territory — because it follows English and French settlers who come to the brand new world of the Americas within the late 1600s both for the bounteous alternatives of pillaging contemporary countryside or as prison indentured servants who work off their sentences. The funds is spectacular, the solid (which incorporates David Thewlis) is nice, and the drama is thick. It was additionally a restricted collection, which means you will get a complete story in simply eight episodes.

Barbarians

Somebody at Netflix mentioned, “Let’s make our personal Vikings, however not fairly nearly as good.” After which Barbarians was born. The German collection launched its six-episode first season in October 2020, and it follows the titular tribes of German warriors who battled the Roman Empire within the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D. Like Vikings, it has numerous sophisticated inter-tribal politics, odd haircuts, and violent battles. However for true followers of Vikings, it’d simply really feel like a knockoff.

Raised by Wolves

You turned such a giant fan of Travis Fimmel from the early seasons of Vikings (Ragnar!) that you simply watched Warcraft simply to see him once more. That was clearly a mistake, however do not let Fimmel’s newest undertaking, his first TV collection function since Vikings, sneak by with no watch. The HBO Max sci-fi collection stars Fimmel as an area crusader making an attempt to get his son again from a pair of androids who’ve taken the kid to lift him on a abandoned planet. It is filled with questions on parenting and faith, and is tough, bizarre sci-fi stripped all the way down to its necessities with an help from Ridley Scott, who govt produces the collection and directed the primary two episodes. Plus, Fimmel does some impressions of a duck, which reveals off his goofy aspect.

Sport of Thrones

Here is the obvious choose: HBO’s Sport of Thrones. Actually, since Sport of Thrones predates Vikings by just a few years, it is fairly doable you discovered Vikings due to your love of Sport of Thrones. But when for some cause you have not seen Sport of Thrones, then a) the place have you ever been? and b) you will discover the one present within the final decade that has higher battle scenes than Vikings does. And opposite to what you’ll have been instructed, Sport of Thrones does not emphasize fantasy components. Sure, there are dragons, however when writer George R.R. Martin crafted the story, he primarily based it on historical past, particularly the Battle of the Roses during which a number of completely different households laid declare to the crown. It is your name whether or not you wish to watch the ultimate two seasons, which sadly did not reside as much as the remainder of the present.

The Final Kingdom

Of all of the reveals on this checklist, The Final Kingdom goes to be most like Vikings, and needs to be your first cease should you’re making an attempt to relive the thrills of Ragnar and firm. Primarily based on Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Tales, The Final Kingdom almost overlaps with the occasions of Vikings (which begins in 793), beginning with the 866 Viking conquest of York. The present’s hero is Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Saxon who’s adopted by invading Vikings and raised as one in all their very own after the Vikings conquer his homeland, pulling him in two completely different instructions as he has the blood of a Saxon however got here of age as a Danish Viking. As the 2 reveals are loosely primarily based on the identical historical past, some characters seem in each reveals at completely different ages in related tales separated by a era of historical past.

Norsemen

A bit uninterested in all of the seriousness of Vikings, what with all of the conflict, dismemberment, and relations stabbing one another within the again? The rugged world of historical Norse life slips on a banana peel on this English-language Norwegian comedy that spoofs Viking tradition with a humorousness someplace between Monty Python and the Farrelly Brothers. Although everybody’s carrying animal skins and tattered armor, a few of the dialogue is decidedly trendy, like when the present’s model of The Seer says, “Hate the participant, not the sport,” when making an attempt to get the village’s reluctant handmaiden to drink a cocktail of spit to satisfy a prophecy. It is completely foolish, however that is the entire level.

Knightfall

Following the deserved success of Vikings, Historical past sought out extra historic dramas in the identical vein, reveals that use historical past as a blueprint after which craft an intricate drama round it. 2017’s Knightfall most carefully resembles the technique Historical past set forth with Vikings, this time shifting to the 14th Century to go to the Knights Templar. The collection follows Landry de Lauzon, a disenchanted Knights Templar whose religion is as soon as once more stirred when he learns the Holy Grail — sure, THAT Holy Grail — has reappeared in France.

Actual Vikings

Vikings is such a success for Historical past that the community launched this companion docuseries in 2016 for followers thirsting for extra data of Viking tradition. Utilizing behind-the-scenes entry, interviews with historians, and conversations with the present’s stars, Actual Vikings goes deep into the historical past of the Vikings, from their paths of plundering to their non secular ceremonies to their sea-faring expertise. There are solely 4 episodes, nevertheless it’s a must-watch for followers who wish to discover extra Viking tradition.

Black Sails

If “Yarrrrrr” is extra your velocity than “Skol!,” then set sail for the underrated pirate drama Black Sails. Like Vikings, it intricately particulars a tradition that almost all of us know extra from Halloween costumes than precise historical past, with completely different factions arrange in opposition to one another as all of them need the identical factor. In Vikings‘ case, it is land, in Black Sails‘ case, it is treasure. Black Sails is definitely a gritty prequel to Treasure Island, with characters like Lengthy John Silver, Captain Flint, and Billy Bones from Robert Louis Stevenson’s books delivered to life in an exciting drama. It does not have as many battles as Vikings, focusing extra on the renegade cutthroat technique of those sea-faring bandits, however when ships do conflict within the crystal-blue open waters, it is a few of the greatest motion ever seen on TV.

Spartacus

You recognize what? It is OK to love Vikings for its bloodletting. And if it is spurting crimson you need, it is a tidal wave you will get within the Starz collection Spartacus. Probably the most brutal and violent collection ever, Spartacus is ready in 72 B.C within the Roman Empire and follows the gladiators who made homicide a sport, which Spartacus is very happy to indicate off in artfully cinematic methods. And in line with the hedonism of the instances, the present can be loaded with intercourse and nudity, as a result of I do know that is additionally your factor.

The Witcher

If Vikings‘ complicated political drama is what intrigues you, you will get a faceful of the identical in Netflix’s The Witcher. It’s miles extra fantasy-based, nonetheless, spectacularly bringing Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels a few monster hunter fulfilling an unknown future to the small display screen, whereas additionally laying out an expansive battle for a continent between a brutish empire and several other impartial nation-states. Plus, Henry Cavill is the one different charismatic sword-swinging hunk who can maintain a candle to Travis Fimmel.

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