The vikings sit down to a last supper in the Season 4 key art for History’s “Vikings” series, which will debut Feb. 18 with 20 episodes.
That’s double the number of episodes from Season 3, and four more than were originally planned. The upcoming season will be split into two halves, History announced Thursday, with the second airing later in 2016.
Now back to that key art, which has a definite vibe of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, “The Last Supper.” I don’t think we should assume this means the upcoming season is the last for the “Vikings.”
It does confirm what show creator Michael Hirst suggested during San Diego Comic-Con in July: Season 4 will see a final reckoning between brothers Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) and Rollo (Clive Standen).
(A decision on a Season 5 has not been made, a History rep told me Thursday.)
When we left them at the end of Season 3, the vikings were victorious in Paris over King Charles of West Frankia, Italy and the Holy Roman Empire. Charles paid off Ragnar to leave the city without sacking it. Rollo betrayed his viking heritage by remaining in Frankia, where King Charles (Lothaire Bluteau) has plans to pit Rollo against his brother.
With Ragnar back in Kattegat but dangerously ill at the beginning of Season 4, his viking cohorts are thinking about who they’d like to become king after his death. Among those schemers are his wife, Queen Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland), and his oldest son, Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig).
His former wife, Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), has her own power struggles. Her former second in command, Kalf (Ben Robson), remains in the picture.
Meanwhile, Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård) is in custody for killing Christian priest Athelstan.
Peter Franzén (“The Gunman”) joins the cast as King Harold Finehair, a potential threat to Ragnar who wants to be King of Norway. Jasper Pääkkönen (“Jet Trash”) stars as Halfdan The Black, King Harold’s violent younger brother. Dianne Doan (“Descendants”) plays Yidu, a character within the world of the vikings who fascinates Ragnar.
“Vikings” returns at 9 p.m. Feb. 18 on History.
