The History Channel's first scripted show Vikings was surprisingly inaccurate in its depiction of ancient Nordic events, but Vikings: Valhalla has the chance to avoid one of the former series' biggest historical mistakes. Right at the eve of Vikings' final season, Netflix announced a spinoff show for the series. It's unsurprising that the streaming service chose to elongate the storyline as Nordic history hasn't received much of a spotlight in the past, despite the opportunity to showcase epic battles in the era of popular series like Game of Thrones. The History Channel's first crack at a scripted show proved successful for the network, and Vikings climbed the charts to reach the rungs of other popular series like Ancient Aliens and Swamp People. Unfortunately for the History Channel, Vikings had little historical accuracy.
While Vikings was based on the sagas of Ragnar Lothbrok, played by Travis Fimmel, Vikings: Valhalla follows the story of the famed Nordic figure Leif Erikson (Sam Corlett) and his sister Freydís Eiríksdóttir (Frida Gustavsson). Valhalla promises to show the end of the Viking age with the Battle of Stamford Bridge, with tensions escalating between the Vikings and the British and their respective pagan and Christian beliefs. Much like Vikings, the Valhalla spinoff show will charge women with strong roles as warriors and queens. No doubt, Freydís will have a similar protagonist role as Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) in the new series. There's no word as of yet if Vikings' shield maidens will make an appearance in Valhalla. Rearranging mythology and presenting it as fact wasn't Vikings' biggest mistake, but Valhalla's premise shows that it has a chance to avoid its origin show's biggest historical blunder.
The biggest historical mistake that Vikings made was utilizing historical figures and paying no attention to their real-life timelines. The events that happen in the series actually take place over hundreds of years of Norse history. More often than not, Vikings chose to pluck random well-known Nordic heroes and place them in the narrative to move their plot forward. This resulted in a slew of inaccuracies with regards to who made specific discoveries - and even to how these real-life figures died. Valhalla can end a few Vikings stories and avoid the series' timeline mistakes based on its premise. While at first there was confusion over the 100-year time leap between the two shows, it's actually more historically accurate. The real Leif Erikson, on whom Valhalla is based, was active during the 11th century. Additionally, much of Leif Erikson's travels were devoted to converting the pagan citizens of Greenland to Christianity, at the behest of King Olaf Tryggvason. Erikson's life is backed by more historical evidence than Ragnar's saga, and Valhalla would be wise to stick to it.
No historical epic TV show is immune to facing inaccuracies when it comes to portraying the events of their real-life counterparts. Programs like The Great are actually made better by inaccuracy. For Vikings, this simply wasn't the case. For example, the character of Erik the Red (Eric Johnson) was introduced in Vikings season 6, made a few power plays, then died in a barn in Norway. The real-life Erik the Red was the father of Leif Erikson, had no major aspirations for the throne, and died during an epidemic in Iceland. Vikings proposed that Ubbe Ragnarsson (Jordan Patrick Smith) discovered North America. In actuality, Leif Erikson is thought to be the first European to set foot in North America. It is yet to be seen whether or not Valhalla will explore this part of Erikson's life, but it is a huge possibility.
Valhalla is set up to have a brutal ending that marks the final curtain for the Viking era as a whole. While the History Channel had a chance to show the true beginnings and height of the era in Vikings, they chose to forego this by muddling the real-life timeline of events. Vikings: Valhalla can avoid its predecessor's biggest historical mistake by sticking closely to the life of its main protagonist, Leif Erikson.