HISTORY brought the fans out on San Diego Bay for a Viking Funeral and were on hand for this awesome event. See exclusive images and video, plus the new Vikings Season 5 trailer!
In Vikings‘ fourth season, Ragnar Lothbrok’s adventures came to an end. After his failed attempt to take Paris (the defeat courtesy of his brother, Rollo) and his quest for vengeance against Ecbert fizzles before ever really launching, Ragnar is killed by King Aelle in a pit of poisonous snakes. Of course Ivar and his brothers return to England to avenge their father. Aelle and Ecbert die, but we lost Sigurd too (*SIGH* we’ve always known Ivar is several cards short of a whole deck, if you know what I’m saying…).
Given everyone we’ve lost, HISTORY decided to give all the fans at this year’s Comic-Con the opportunity to say an EPIC good-bye with a traditional Viking funeral!
The Vikings funeral began with a procession throughout Gaslamp early Friday (July 21) afternoon. Fans congregated behind the Convention Center, on San Diego Bay, where the funeral concluded with a waterfront ceremony and we were on hand for this awesome event!
Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha), Gustaf Skarsgard (Floki), Alexander Ludwig (Bjorn), Alex Høgh Andersen (Ivar), and Creator Michael Hirst greeted fans, debuted the new Season 5 trailer, and gave a major shout-out to cosplayers and folks who knew their Vikings’ trivia. We paid our respects to Ragnar, sending him off to the splendors of Valhalla. Then we chanted as a floating 45-foot replica Viking long-ship was set on fire. It was SO cool! Fans were also treated to their very own Vikings drinking horns.
Take a look at 20+ exclusive images from the ceremony, plus our brief video of the Viking ship being set on fire.
We’ve got additional HQ images of the cast from HISTORY to share too.
Vikings returns to HISTORY for Season 5 on Wednesday, November 29 with a two-hour premiere.
From the new trailer they debuted at SDCC (below), it’s evident that war is coming from all quarters. In England, Aethelwulf and Bishop Heahmund (played by our boo-thang Jonathan Rhys Meyers) prepare to defend England against a Viking invasion. Meanwhile, in Kattegat, civil war is about to break out as Lagertha/Bjorn/Ubbe defend their right to rule against Ivar/Harald. In the end, Lagaertha makes an ominous observation: “The end of our world is here…”