CarterMatt Awards 2016 results: Alex Høgh Andersen of ‘Vikings’ wins Breakout Star
Timing can sometimes be funny, and the latest example of this comes via the Breakout Star category of the CarterMatt Awards today and the results. (Warning: There are some spoilers ahead for “Vikings” season 4 — steer clear now unless you’re up to speed.)
When we first created the nominees at the start of the month, we knew that Alex Høgh Andersen’s character of Ivar on “Vikings” was a significant role, and would be even more so down the road; yet, it was hard to know that we’d be losing Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) so soon. The character was killed off on Wednesday night’s episode, and now Ivar and his story is all the more important moving forward.
With that in mind, doesn’t it only seem fair that he won Breakout Star by an incredibly large margin? He’s about to break out even more on the show, and this award just so happened to come at the perfect time. Also, he’s fantastic.
Andersen dominated this category with over 80% of the reader vote, a move that didn’t necessarily surprise us (“Vikings” is one of the most-popular shows at CarterMatt) but nonetheless delighted us. It’s always a thrill to watch a great performance, but what makes this one stand apart is that the physical and emotional aspects of this are almost equally weighted, and Andersen does a tremendous job at both and creating a complete character. We’ve come to fear Ivar already, but also understand more of the reasoning behind his ruthlessness and aggression. (Earlier this month, it was great to be able to speak with him at length about playing the character.)
For those looking for a historical perspective on this category, this is the fourth straight year it’s been a part of the awards. Past winners include Priyanka Chopra of “Quantico” (2015), Robin Lord Taylor of “Gotham” (2014), and Tom Mison of “Sleepy Hollow” (2013). This is the first time that an actor from a cable series took home the prize.
Mass congratulations to Andersen for the win! Given that “Vikings” was already renewed for a fifth season, it’s easy to say that there are more exciting things to come with the show and with his character.