Vikings season 6: Why did Katheryn Winnick leave?
Remember this — there was Seer’s prophecy hanging over her like a dark, inescapable cloud. It felt clear that at some point, she was going to die via one of Ragnar’s sons. That’s been the premise at the center of the character for years and we’ve never had an indication that this was going to change. Also, Vikings has a habit of killing off some of their most-important characters. Remember that we already lost Ragnar, and we’ll probably lose many other familiar faces before the series finale ends up airing.
The real remarkable thing when it comes to Lagertha is simply that she made it so much further on the show than she was ever intended — basically, it’s because of the character’s immense popularity that it took this long for her to die. Speaking via TVLine, Katheryn herself had the following to say about it:
Originally when I came on, Lagertha was only supposed to last maybe two or three seasons. That’s it. Michael Hirst made it clear that it’s a show about the sons of Ragnar, it’s a male demographic show, it’s on History Channel, they’re mostly males that watch it… but I fought my way through, and they made creative choices with Lagertha that weren’t even really written so much in the earlier years. Luckily enough, the fans really spoke out and were beyond loyal. I’ve been so fortunate to have such loyal fans that it made it almost impossible to kill me.
Lagertha’s legacy now is easily as one of the most beloved characters on this show, and because of the lack of consistent accounts of her death, Hirst was able to take a few more creative liberties with her than would be afforded elsewhere with some other characters. Seeing Hvitserk kill her wasn’t something we expected, at least not in this way; now, we’re going to have to see how he contends with that at some point over the weeks ahead.
We’re going to miss Winnick on the series — but know that she lasted so much longer than intended originally, and she’ll have other stuff coming up.
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What will you miss most about Katheryn Winnick on Vikings?
Be sure to share in the comments! Also, stick around for some other news. (Photo: History Channel.)
This article was written by Jessica Carter. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.