Did ‘Vikings’ season 4 ratings rise for key Ragnar episode?

While not every detail about Wednesday night’s new episode of “Vikings” was leaked in advance, there was a general sentiment out there from History that it was going to be a key episode for the series’ past and present. Not only that, but there was enough evidence from where the show was in the life of Ragnar that a certain event with a snake pit would be coming up soon. If you were in tune with the way his life goes, you knew his death would be coming.

So did this advance knowledge (for some) of Ragnar’s impending demise lead to a change in ratings for the season? Not so much. Wednesday night’s new episode received a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic, a respectable number but also one that is equal to the ratings from the week before. As a while, “Vikings” so far in season 4 is down close to 20% from season 3 in this key measure; given that it is already renewed for a fifth season, there is not so much to worry about anything changing for the show in the near future.

On the more positive side of things, Ragnar’s exit did lead to an increase in total viewers to 2.26 million, the show’s best number since its return with new episodes in late November.

The biggest test for the show now will be seeing how it fares when we roll around to the next new episode, and the first without Travis Fimmel in the cast. We know that the actor is beloved for playing this role, and the majority of people out there are sad that he’s gone. Hopefully, at the same time they continue to value the remainder of the performers within the show, and as a result of that they offer even more support to the series moving further into the future.

If you did happen to miss any of our rather-extensive coverage of “Vikings” from last night, rest assured that you can find some of it by heading over to the link here right now! (Photo: History.)