Katheryn Winnick

Playing Lagertha: performance & interviews

Watching the performance

Look beyond the shield-wall scenes to the moments when Lagertha has to negotiate respect. Winnick’s stillness and measured delivery make restraint part of the character’s authority. For a different setting, her Jenny Hoyt role in Big Sky moves the performer into a contemporary crime drama.

From self-tape to chemistry read

In her April 2013 Daily Actor interview, Winnick recalled recording an audition at home. Months later, while working in Toronto, she was asked to present a less polished appearance. She rented a costume for that reading, then travelled to Los Angeles for a chemistry read with Fimmel. She remembered departing for Ireland only days after casting. Her account explains the specific audition process rather than reducing her casting to martial arts experience.

Costume, location and character

Winnick told Daily Actor that the character’s appearance, sets and practical surroundings helped her enter the period world. She welcomed battle dirt rather than the polished grooming expected on some contemporary productions. She also described the location work as a chance for cast members to bond, while acknowledging Ireland’s changing weather and the crew’s effort.

Building a shared accent

In a Getty Images junket interview recorded in London in May 2013, Winnick described pre-production as a boot camp combining dialect coaching, battle preparation and stunt training. She said the dialect coach helped establish a shared sound reference so the cast could sound as though they belonged together. The preparation aimed to make those elements available without conscious effort during filming. The accent is a production choice, rather than Winnick’s everyday speech or a proven reconstruction of ninth-century Scandinavian English.