Who plays King Harald Finehair in Vikings?
King Harald Finehair is played by Peter Franzén in the original Vikings series.
Explore family, allies and rivals or follow the story sections below.
Cast references: Peter Franzén.
Explore Harald Finehair’s story
An ally with another destination
He joins the Frankish expedition with his brother Halfdan. Fighting beside Ragnar does not remove the threat that his greater ambitions pose to other rulers.
A fractured brotherhood
Halfdan’s attachment to Bjorn takes the brothers onto opposing sides. Harald killing Halfdan turns a political choice into a lasting personal wound.
Winning the crown
Harald wins the royal election through promises to its voters. His victory challenges Bjorn and tests how much unity a crown can produce when personal rivalries endure.
An ambition that outlasts its original reason
Harald’s pursuit of a crown gives his storyline unusual continuity through changing alliances. It also creates a useful interpretive question: when ambition begins as a way of winning recognition, what happens if recognition becomes less important than the pursuit itself? His relationships help test that question. Companions become rivals when they stand between him and the title, while a temporary common enemy can make cooperation useful again. Keep the distinction between an alliance and a shared long-term goal visible when mapping his connections to the Lothbroks.
A practical rewatch question
Keep track of whom Harald needs at each stage of his ambition. An opponent in the contest for a crown may still be useful against a threat from outside it.
Relationships & loyalties
Episode-by-episode evolution
The turning points in Harald Finehair’s story, from the earliest chapter onward.
- Season 4 · Episode 04
Yol
Aslaug entrusts Ivar’s religious teaching to Floki. Yidu gives Ragnar a substance that produces hallucinations. Harald arrives during the celebrations and announces his aim to become king of all Norway.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 05
Promised
Secrets circulate among lovers and political partners. Lagertha’s apparent wedding resolves the struggle over Hedeby, while Ragnar reveals a failure he has kept from his own people.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 07
The Profit and the Loss
The attack combines ships on the river with Lagertha’s land force, but marshy ground and Frankish crossbows break the approach. A raised chain overturns Harald’s ship; Bjorn helps rescue Harald and Halfdan, and Ragnar saves Floki.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 12
The Vision
Bjorn’s expedition attracts a substantial fleet, while Ragnar must pay men to accompany him. Aslaug foresees disaster for Ivar, but mother and son cannot agree on whether the journey should happen.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 13
Two Journeys
The shipwreck leaves Ragnar’s group exposed in Wessex. Bjorn negotiates with a powerful relative in Francia, while Lagertha moves against a throne left vulnerable at home.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 16
Crossings
Harald and Halfdan discuss replacing the Lothbroks as rulers. Lagertha builds defenses at Kattegat and hears the Seer predict that a son of Ragnar will kill her. The black-cloaked visitor brings news of Ragnar’s death.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 18
Revenge
Bjorn and Ivar disagree over command. Ubbe marries Margrethe, while Harald encounters Ellisif and learns she has married another man. Harald and Halfdan arrange for Egil to infiltrate Kattegat.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 19
On the Eve
Egil attacks Kattegat but is captured after the defense holds. Under torture he identifies Harald as his sponsor. Torvi is injured during the fighting.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 20
The Reckoning
A Saxon defeat leads to Ecbert’s final bargain, while the victorious brothers split over what to do next. The season ends with deaths inside the Viking circle as well as the fall of a familiar king.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 01
The Fisher King
The aftermath of Sigurd’s death leaves the brothers without a common plan. Ivar admits killing him but deflects responsibility toward the taunts that preceded it. Bjorn prepares to travel with Halfdan, Floki leaves by boat, and the remaining army takes York. Harald’s return to Lagertha produces another confrontation over ambition and loyalty.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 02
The Departed
Astrid is taken away from Lagertha’s household, turning Harald’s escape into a personal as well as political loss.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 03
Homeland
Ivar’s forces repel the Saxon assault on York. Ubbe and Hvitserk then seek an agreement with Aethelwulf, only to be humiliated in the Saxon camp. Ubbe decides to return to Kattegat. At the departure, Hvitserk changes course and stays with Ivar. Elsewhere, Floki explores his new land and Astrid resists Harald’s advances.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 06
The Message
Bjorn, Halfdan and Sinric use a sandstorm to escape their captors. Harald and Ivar agree to attack Lagertha. Astrid sends a warning through Hakon, whose crew sexually assaults her during the effort. The message reaches Kattegat. After Heahmund kills a fellow captive who taunts him, Ivar decides the bishop will fight for his side.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 08
The Joke
The two sides meet before battle, but a possible agreement collapses when Ivar rejects peace. Lagertha’s forces then gain an advantage, including an ambush against Hvitserk’s men, and Harald’s side retreats. Harald believes Heahmund has died. Lagertha instead finds the bishop alive and orders that he be saved. Floki’s settlement faces its own disputes.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 10
Moments of Vision
The renewed battle brings devastating personal losses. Harald kills Halfdan, Hvitserk kills Guthrum, and Astrid asks Lagertha to end her life. Bjorn orders a retreat. Back in Kattegat, Torvi recovers her children from Margrethe, while Bjorn finds Lagertha profoundly altered by the ordeal. Rollo arrives as the balance of power changes.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 15
Hell
Harald attacks Wessex, where Alfred’s Norse allies help shape the defense. Heahmund dies in the fighting after looking for Lagertha, who disappears. Bjorn searches for his mother among the casualties. Harald withdraws after defeat, and Alfred publicly acknowledges the contribution of his allies while the conspiracy within his own household comes into focus.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 16
The Buddha
Alfred forgives Aethelred, but Judith poisons her son to protect Alfred’s position. Ubbe gains the possibility of settlement in East Anglia. Bjorn moves toward an alliance with Harald and Magnus against Ivar. Hvitserk encounters Buddhism in Kattegat, while Floki’s settlement offers Eyvind’s family another chance through Kjetill.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 18
Baldur
Bjorn marries Gunnhild and prepares to oppose Ivar with Harald. Hvitserk visits Olaf and questions his earlier allegiance. Ivar has Thora executed and rejects Freydis’s newborn son, abandoning the infant. Judith discusses her illness and the killing of Aethelred with Lagertha, whose recovery takes place alongside that difficult exchange.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 19
What Happens in the Cave
Ubbe defeats Frodo in single combat and speaks about his return to his former gods. Floki finds Christian objects in a cave before an eruption traps him. Judith dies. Lagertha prepares to put down her weapons, while Bjorn and Harald’s fleet suffers in a storm and their rivalry produces another confrontation.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 20
Ragnarok
Bjorn’s attack on Kattegat is aided by Freydis, who turns against Ivar. Ivar kills her and escapes after losing the city. Magnus dies during the fighting. Harald helps Bjorn, whose eventual victory brings Lagertha back with the sword of kings. Bjorn is proclaimed king while Ivar’s departure leaves their conflict unfinished.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 02
The Prophet
Oleg consolidates his control over the young heir Igor. Bjorn’s decision to help Harald draws him away from the unsettled community he has only just inherited.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 04
All the Prisoners
Olaf proposes electing a single king of Norway. Lagertha’s village survives a raid at a devastating personal cost, while Ivar begins building an alternative to Oleg’s rule.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 05
The Key
Harald courts support among the voting rulers.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 06
Death and the Serpent
Bjorn escapes Harald’s attempt to remove him.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 07
The Ice Maiden
Harald imprisons Olaf unless he submits.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 08
Valhalla Can Wait
Rus raiders strike near Harald’s territory.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 09
Resurrection
Harald agrees to a defensive alliance.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 10
The Best Laid Plans
Bjorn and Harald are left gravely wounded.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 11
King of Kings
Bjorn survives long enough to make a final appearance against the Rus. His presence transforms the invasion’s outcome and completes his transition from ruler to remembered legend.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 13
The Signal
Harald interrupts the succession proceedings.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 14
Lost Souls
Erik kills a fellow conspirator and wins Harald’s trust.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 15
All at Sea
Oleg’s rule ends, and Ivar leaves Rus after an emotional farewell. Greenland collapses into violence, while Gunnhild refuses the political future Harald offers her.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 16
The Final Straw
Harald allows reconciliation in Kattegat.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 17
The Raft of Medusa
Harald leaves Erik and Ingrid to govern.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 18
It's Only Magic
Ubbe’s group explores a fertile coast already inhabited by others. Alfred commits to resisting the invasion, while Ingrid asserts more practical control in Kattegat.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 19
The Lord Giveth...
Harald kills his attacker before dying.
Read the episode guide
Memorable scenes
The ambition announced in the hall
Season 4, episode 4
Harald enters Kattegat during the Yol celebrations and declares that he wants to become king of all Norway. Ragnar returns to find him in the hall. The introduction immediately makes apparent friendliness coexist with a larger competing objective.
Why this moment matters
Harald states a destination larger than the alliance he is entering. The hall allows the ambition to sound convivial, but it immediately raises a practical question for Ragnar: what place will other rulers have in the future being announced? The introduction gives later cooperation a condition that does not need to be repeated every time they fight on the same side.
Meeting Halfdan on the battlefield
Season 5, episode 10
The brothers confront one another after choosing opposite sides in the civil war. Harald kills Halfdan. Family affection has remained part of their story, but it does not prevent the ambitions and loyalties around them from producing a fatal encounter.
Why this moment matters
The encounter makes the difference between family affection and political alignment fatal. Halfdan’s refusal to abandon his chosen path means Harald must confront someone whose loyalty he once treated as part of his own strength. Killing him does not prove that the bond has vanished; it shows that the ambition can take precedence even while the bond remains painful.
Why fans keep talking
Harald can be entertaining because the scale of his ambitions repeatedly collides with the disorder of his private hopes. The frustration gives him humor and vulnerability without making his conduct harmless. His relationship with Halfdan deepens that appeal, then supplies one of the strongest grounds for rejecting him when the brothers meet in battle. Earlier brutality remains part of the judgment as well. The tension is not whether a compelling rival must also be a good person, but how much companionship and disappointment should change the weight assigned to what he chooses to do.
What resonates
The contrast between royal ambition and personal disappointment makes Harald entertaining for some viewers. His companionship with Halfdan adds another source of interest.
What divides viewers
The brothers’ brutality is impossible to set aside for others. Halfdan’s death deepens the dislike of viewers already troubled by Harald’s choices.
Character gallery
Who plays Harald Finehair?
Peter Franzén portrays Harald Finehair.
Finnish actor Peter Franzén also works as a writer and director. His international roles include Reiniger in The Gunman.