Is a Vikings season 6 renewal coming? Casting notices suggest so…
The biggest piece of evidence towards a renewal right now comes via Project Casting, which has a notice up looking for talent to appear in a batch of episodes for season 6. You can find out more information by clicking the URL here. The suggestion seems to be that filming for the new batch of episodes will start in September, which helps to explain why the show would need to announce a renewal now. They have to be able to start work on new episodes if they want to have them done in time to premiere season 6 in 2018. This is a big, expansive, and challenging show with a lengthy production cycle — it also employs more extras than the majority of the other shows that are out there. Note that History has not officially confirmed a renewal, but typically casting notices are a good sign that production is preparing themselves for it to happen. We’ll have more information if a confirmation happens.
In terms of commercial success, there is every reason in the world to think that Vikings season 6 would be coming our way. The show averaged a 0.7 rating and almost 2.3 million viewers in live+same-day measures for season 4. While this is a slight drop-off from season 3, remember that this is for a show that adopted a split-season format and aired at a wide array of different times during the year. What impresses us the most is that the show didn’t seem to lose any steam even after losing arguably its biggest star in Travis Fimmel — Ragnar is still missed on the show, but the story of his sons and Lagertha will easily keep viewers interested. The thing that probably surprises us the most is that the folks over at History are waiting as long as they are to launch season 5, given that filming wrapped up months ago and they have a whopping twenty episodes in the can.
Creatively, there is a whole lot more story still to tell about Ivar, Bjorn, and some of the other main characters; we do think that this show will eventually have a natural end date once we get near the end of some of their lives, but we’re not quite there yet. Creator Michael Hirst is probably the person best suited to dictate how long he wants to tell the story provided that the show’s ratings stay solid and History remains fond of the end product. Personally it’s one of our favorite shows, so we’re going to celebrate it sticking around for many more seasons to come.
If Vikings has been renewed for a season 6, what are you the most excited to see? Be sure to share in the comments!
Meanwhile, head over to the link here in the event that you want to get some other news and information on the upcoming fifth season — including some trailer analysis! (Photo: History.)