After Vikings: What The 10 Main Actors Are Doing Next

Serving as one of the History Channel’s most popular dramas, Vikings ran for six seasons and 89 episodes from 2013 to 2020. The show primarily follows the historical Ragnar Lothbrok and his effects on Anglo-Saxon England. Following Ragnar’s death, the show chronicles the lives of his sons in various locations around the Western world.

Vikings is the type of show that its actors – especially star Travis Fimmel – will forever be known for. Such is often the case when a particular show runs for seven years. However, everyone has to move on eventually, and many of the show’s main actors have gone on to perform in other shows and movies.

10 Travis Fimmel (Ragnar)

Ragnar Lothbrok is played by Australian actor Travis Fimmel. Fimmel appears in the first four seasons of the show, starring in 45 episodes. Following his departure in 2016, Fimmel starred in Warcraft as Anduin Lothar.

2019 saw Fimmel starring in three movies – Finding Steve McQueen, Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, and Dreamland. But perhaps his biggest post-Vikings role is that of Caleb/Marcus in HBO Max’s Raised by Wolves, which debuted in September 2020. It has since been renewed for a second season. Fimmel also has several projects currently in the works, including the series The Dirty Black Bag, a spaghetti Western, as well as several movies currently in post-prodcution, an announced Wyatt Earp anthology series, and Rust, another Western that has also been announced.

9 Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha)

Katheryn Winnick plays Lagertha, Ragnar’s first wife and the eventual Earl of Hedeby and Queen of Kattegat. She is one of the few actors on the show to remain a regular throughout all six seasons. In 2020, Winnick starred in a movie titled Wander, and the following year starred alongside Liam Neeson in The Marksman.

She appeared in 2021’s Flag Day, which is directed by Sean Penn. She also landed the lead role of Jenny Hoyt on ABC’s Big Sky, a crime drama about missing girls in Montana, which is currently on its second season.

8 Clive Standen – Rollo

Clive Standen stars as Rollo, Ragnar’s jealous brother. Growing sick of living in his esteemed brother’s shadow, Rollo is eventually made the Duke of Normandy. Standen starred in the first five seasons of the show, starring in 45 episodes total. Standen remains quite prevalent in television, having been a series regular in three different shows since 2017.

He played Bryan Mills in NBC’s Taken, Gabriel Taylor in Mirage, and Anthony Lavelle in Council of Dads, an NBC drama that aired for just one season throughout 2020 before being canceled. Now, he has several projects in the works, including Vendetta, a revenge action flick, Possessions, a frightening film about a man who buys a storage locker sight unseen, and Crimelands, which is currently in pre-production.

7 Alexander Ludwig – Bjorn

Playing Ragnar’s son Bjorn Ironside was Alexander Ludwig, who tag-teamed the role with Nathan O’Toole. Ludwig played Ironside from seasons 2 to 6, starring in 67 episodes. Ludwig enjoyed quite a prominent movie career in the late 2010s, starring in the likes of Midway and Bad Boys for Life.

He was in two movies released in 2021 – Heart of Champions and Night Teeth, and has one more in the works, National Champions. He has also found a new leading role as Ace Spade in the Starz drama Heels, a wrestling show created by Michael Waldron of Rick and Morty and Loki fame. Of these four roles, three are sports-related, suggesting that he may have found himself a niche!

6 Gustaf Skarsgård – Floki

Playing the resident shipbuilder Floki is Gustaf Skarsgård, a Swedish actor from Stockholm. Like Katheryn Winnick, Skarsgård remained a series regular throughout the entire show, starring in all six seasons and 68 episodes total.

In 2018, Skarsgård starred as Karl Strand in the second season of HBO’s Westworld. In July 2020, he starred as Merlin in the Netflix fantasy drama Cursed. All ten episodes were released in July of 2020, and Netflix has announced that there will not be a season 2. He currently has two projects in the works, The Emigrants, a Swedish film based on the book by Vilhelm Moberg, and What Remains, a tv series in pre-production, which is currently keeping the plot under wraps.

5 Alyssa Sutherland – Aslaug

Australian actress Alyssa Sutherland starred in the first four seasons as Aslaug, Ragnar’s second wife. She starred in 35 episodes of the show. Following her departure, Sutherland landed the role of Eve Copeland on Spike’s The Mist, an adaptation of Stephen King’s famous novella.

Unfortunately, the show was canceled after just one season due to low ratings and mediocre critical reception. In 2019, Sutherland starred in one episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She played Sadie Parker in “Plastic”. More recently, she appeared in the 2021 mini-series New Gold Mountain, and has two movies in the pipeline: Mental State, and Evil Dead Rise.

4 John Kavanagh – The Seer

John Kavanagh played The Seer throughout all six seasons of the show, having a recurring role throughout the first three seasons before being promoted to series regular for the final three.

In 2019, he appeared as Windsor in a comedy superhero film called Supervized, which was released through video on demand that December. He also provided his voice for Riverdance: The Animated Adventure, an animated adaptation of the popular theatre show. His biggest role since Vikings, though, has been in the Ridley Scott-directed The Last Duel.

3 Moe Dunford – Aethelwulf

Moe Dunford portrays Aethelwulf, the husband of Princess Judith and son of King Ecbert. Dunford has remained quite active since leaving Vikings in 2018. Throughout 2019, he starred as Sam O’Neill in the BBC One crime drama Dublin Murders.

He also appeared in a handful of movies throughout 2020, including the action-thriller Knuckledust. He is currently slated to star in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a sort of sequel-reboot seeing Leatherface as a sixty-year-old man. He will also be returning to the small screen for The Dry, an Irish drama. 

2 Jessalyn Gilsig – Siggy

Jessalyn Gilsig didn’t star in Vikings for long, appearing in just the first three seasons. But she left quite an impression as Siggy, the lover of Rollo and wife of Earl Haraldson. Following her departure from the show in 2015, Gilsig starred in five episodes of Scandal as Vanessa Moss.

In 2021, she stars as Holly Barrett in the Disney+ sports dramedy Big Shot. The show follows a grumpy basketball coach who is hired to coach a group of girls at a private school.

1 George Blagden – Athelstan

George Blagden does not play one of the titular Vikings but an Anglo-Saxon monk named Athelstan. He proves one of Ragnar’s first victims, having been captured by the powerful Viking on his first raid into England.

Following his departure from Vikings in 2015, Blagden starred as Lenny in the Black Mirror episode Hang the DJ. He also landed a key role on Canal+’s Versailles, a historical fiction set during the construction of the world-famous palace. He plays the King of France, Louis XIV. He has also lent his talents to voicing the video game Troy: A Total War Saga, and has several films in the works, including The Land Of Dream, Rubikon, The Gallery, and The Chelsea Cowboy.

About The Author

Nathan Sharp
(852 Articles Published)

Nathan Sharp is a writer from outside Toronto, Ontario. He has a love of movies and television, having enjoyed them for more than twenty years. His preferences include drama, action, and horror, with the former being a particular point of interest and fascination.

He also has a love of video games, particularly those of Rockstar.

Whether it be about film, television, or video games, Nathan loves a good discussion and has written hundreds of articles for Screen Rant.

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