‘Vikings’ season 4: Travis Fimmel leaving show; Ragnar’s legacy

When an actor leaves a major television show, there is always a certain degree of shock that comes along with it. After all, these are people you grew accustomed to seeing on a weekly basis, and there is a certain part of your brain that wishes they were around forever.

Now that we’ve said that, it is understandable that there is a slightly different argument that exists when it comes to “Vikings.” You’ve got a show here that is based on history, and there is no going back and time and changing what happens. This isn’t “Timeless” over on NBC. With that, we knew that we would be losing Travis Fimmel eventually, and that moment just so happened to come during Wednesday night’s new episode.

At the time of this writing, it is difficult to get into all of the finer details and the meta stuff when it comes to this. What we do know for the time being is that Fimmel was tremendous during his appearances on the show, and while there was a time in which we thought we’d be getting to see him around for a longer span of time, that sentiment changed the moment that it became clear that we were jumping forward in time and focusing more on Ivar and others. All of a sudden, the landscape of the show was altered, and there was very little room left for Ragnar to live.

The character’s legacy on this show is going to be as one of the most powerful, complicated figures we’ve seen on a show of this nature, and he leaves it criminally underrated for his work. Obviously, this will be far from the last we see of Fimmel, given that he’s already getting into movies, and we have to presume that were he be interested in diving into more television moving forward, there would be plenty of projects knocking down his door.

For now, let’s just say a simple goodbye to the Ragnar character. We’ll miss you. Also, let’s put it out there that we hope “Vikings” fans do continue to watch the show. Fimmel would likely want that, and there is also still so much more interesting story to be told when it comes to these characters.

For some additional news right now in relation to “Vikings,” including a review for tonight’s episode and a preview for all that is coming up, be sure to head over to the link here. (Photo: History.)