Who plays Ubbe in Vikings?
Ubbe is played by Jordan Patrick Smith, Cormac Melia and Luke Shanahan in the original Vikings series.
Explore family, allies and rivals or follow the story sections below.
Cast references: Jordan Patrick Smith · Cormac Melia · Luke Shanahan.
Explore Ubbe’s story
Brothers before factions
His childhood bond with Hvitserk survives a near drowning in which Siggy dies saving them. As adults, affection does not prevent their allegiances from diverging.
The settlement dream
Ubbe’s willingness to negotiate and work with Alfred puts land and coexistence alongside revenge. His choices recall the practical farming ambition within Ragnar’s original dream.
A practical rewatch question
Follow the terms of each proposed compromise: who must change, who receives land, and who bears the risk if an agreement fails? Peace has a concrete price.
A different kind of legacy
His voyage through Iceland and beyond eventually leads to a new land and reunion with Floki. The final question is how the travelers will behave toward the people already living there.
Inheritance through a practical objective
Ubbe’s resemblance to Ragnar is most useful when treated as a question about goals rather than appearance. What would it mean to continue the ambition for land and a sustainable life, rather than simply repeat the pursuit of fame? His negotiations and later travel give that question different settings. Neither diplomacy nor discovery guarantees good conduct. The final encounter with a new community therefore keeps the moral problem active: a fresh shore is a chance to choose differently, not proof that the travelers have already become different people.
Relationships & loyalties
Episode-by-episode evolution
The turning points in Ubbe’s story, from the earliest chapter onward.
- Season 4 · Episode 02
Kill the Queen
Helga releases Floki, but Ubbe finds him hiding in water and he is recaptured. Ragnar confines him in a cave; meanwhile Helga mourns their daughter Angrboda, whose death Floki does not yet know about.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 06
What Might Have Been
Ragnar grants Ubbe and Hvitserk arm rings so they may travel, and hears that he will die when a blind man sees him. A storm scatters the departing fleet.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 08
Portage
Ragnar directs the fleet to a cliff and proposes lifting the ships past the river obstacle. When Yidu refuses more of the substance and raises the settlement secret, he drowns her; Ubbe and Hvitserk witness the killing.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 10
The Last Ship
The brothers meet in a costly river battle that ends in Frankish victory. A major time jump then reveals a transformed Kattegat and a family ready to question Ragnar’s legacy.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 11
The Outsider
Ubbe answers Ragnar’s challenge with an embrace. Bjorn intends to sail toward the Mediterranean, Hvitserk will accompany him, and Ubbe and Sigurd remain responsible for Aslaug and Kattegat.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 13
Two Journeys
Ragnar and Ivar kill the remaining companions of their small party, then surrender themselves in Wessex. Lagertha confines Ubbe and Sigurd before attacking Kattegat and challenging Aslaug’s rule.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 14
In the Uncertain Hour Before the Morning
Aslaug renounces the queenship and asks to leave safely. Lagertha shoots her as she walks away. Ubbe attempts to retaliate but is overpowered, and Astrid warns the brothers against attacking Lagertha.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 15
All His Angels
Ragnar uses a private farewell to redirect Ivar’s vengeance toward Ecbert. His transfer to Northumbria ends with torture and execution, turning the father’s final choices into his sons’ next conflict.
Read the episode guide - Season 4 · Episode 17
The Great Army
Ubbe, Sigurd and Ivar organize the army, and an outside fleet arrives to take part. Bjorn prevents his brothers from killing Lagertha, making clear that he will stand between them and his mother.
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 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 02
The Departed
Floki reaches a landscape he interprets as Asgard. In Kattegat, Lagertha imprisons Harald and refuses his proposed alliance; their encounter includes sexual assault. Harald’s men free him and abduct Astrid. Alfred’s vision directs Saxon attention toward York, where Ivar demonstrates his leg braces while his struggle with Ubbe intensifies.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 03
Homeland
Ubbe’s unsuccessful peace mission makes his departure a consequence of the leadership dispute rather than a simple travel choice.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 04
The Plan
Ubbe’s new alliance turns the conflict between brothers into part of Kattegat’s struggle over rule.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 12
Murder Most Foul
Alfred offers to honor earlier arrangements if the Norse newcomers fight for him. In Kattegat, Freydis secretly seeks pregnancy through another man while encouraging Ivar to believe the child will be his. Margrethe is killed. Heahmund murders Cuthred after a blackmail threat involving Lagertha, and Floki’s confidence in the gods falters.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 13
A New God
The conversion of Ubbe and Torvi becomes part of the political relationship between Alfred and his Norse allies.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 14
The Lost Moment
Ivar’s sacrificial spectacle uses a woman presented as Lagertha, and he later kills the Seer. Hvitserk’s search for guidance cannot give him an easy way out. In Wessex, a coup against Alfred stalls when Aethelred backs away. Floki responds to Thorunn’s murder by asserting authority and banishing Eyvind’s family.
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
The grant of land links Ubbe’s path to the settlement ambition that has outlasted earlier campaigns.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 17
The Most Terrible Thing
Judith tells Alfred that she poisoned Aethelred. Ivar sends Hvitserk on a diplomatic mission while threatening Thora. In Iceland, Kjetill kills Eyvind’s family, and Aud responds by taking her own life. Ubbe proposes that he command Alfred’s forces as another threat to Wessex approaches.
Read the episode guide - Season 5 · Episode 19
What Happens in the Cave
Ubbe’s combat becomes a route toward peace, complicating the assumption that a fighter’s only goal is continued conquest.
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 01
New Beginnings
Bjorn begins ruling Kattegat while Lagertha chooses retirement. In exile, Ivar encounters a ruler whose cruelty makes his own claims to power suddenly precarious.
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 03
Ghosts, Gods and Running Dogs
Bjorn’s rescue attempt runs into Olaf’s defences. Elsewhere, the fragility of Lagertha’s retirement becomes clear, and Ivar sees the price of Oleg’s family dominance.
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 07
The Ice Maiden
Kattegat gives Lagertha a ceremonial farewell. Her death leaves both a public absence and a private demand for justice, as Bjorn returns to a transformed family.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 08
Valhalla Can Wait
Ubbe cuts Hvitserk free from the execution ropes.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 09
Resurrection
Othere gives Ubbe Floki’s wedding ring.
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 12
All Change
Ubbe plans to leave Iceland with settlers.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 13
The Signal
The plan to extract Igor uses a religious celebration as cover. A storm devastates Ubbe’s expedition, and Harald’s return interrupts Kattegat’s attempt to choose its ruler.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 14
Lost Souls
Igor’s rescuers reach Dir’s territory, while Oleg faces the consequences of his nephew’s disappearance. Harald consolidates power, and scarcity threatens the latest settlement.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 15
All at Sea
Ubbe flees Greenland as Kjetill claims kingship.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 16
The Final Straw
Ivar and Hvitserk return to a hostile Kattegat. The search for purpose eventually becomes a proposal to invade Wessex, as Ubbe’s survivors drift in worsening conditions.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 17
The Raft of Medusa
Ubbe finally sees land.
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...
Ubbe is reunited with Floki.
Read the episode guide - Season 6 · Episode 20
The Last Act
Ubbe punishes Naad for murdering a local man.
Read the episode guide
Memorable scenes
An embrace answers the challenge
Season 4, episode 11
Ragnar publicly offers his sons the chance to kill him and take power. Ubbe steps forward but embraces him. The gesture refuses the violent script without pretending that the years of absence have not changed the family.
Why this moment matters
Ubbe refuses to let the choice be limited to killing Ragnar or backing away from him. An embrace answers the public provocation through a bond that the challenge tries to convert into competition. The gesture does not resolve the years of abandonment; it makes reunion possible without accepting that violence is the only convincing proof of adulthood.
Justice in the new land
Season 6, episode 20
After Naad murders a local man, Ubbe must respond before the community that has welcomed the travelers. He abandons the proposed blood eagle and kills Naad more directly. The choice tests whether a new destination can lead to a different use of inherited practices.
Why this moment matters
Naad’s killing threatens the travelers’ relationship with the people who already live in the new land. Ubbe’s response must therefore answer both a crime and a question about what his group brings with it. Abandoning the blood eagle limits the display of inherited brutality, but the use of lethal punishment keeps the break with old habits morally incomplete.
Why fans keep talking
Ubbe’s wish for settlement offers an alternative to the family’s repeated contests over reputation. The same preference can be read as practical independence or as insufficient force, depending on how much agency his choices appear to have. His changing relationship with Lagertha and treatment of Margrethe complicate an easy designation as the reasonable brother. The final judgment of Naad is useful because it tests the preference in action. Peace is no longer only a proposal made to someone else; Ubbe must decide what his own community will do when one of its members violates it.
What resonates
Compromise, settlement and his relationship with Alfred make him a persuasive heir to Ragnar’s farming dream for his supporters.
What divides viewers
Some viewers find him passive or underdeveloped, particularly around Lagertha and Margrethe, and want a clearer vision distinct from Bjorn’s.
Character gallery
The world behind the character.
How far did the real voyages reach?
Norse settlements connected Iceland and Greenland, and archaeology establishes a presence in Newfoundland. Wood from L’Anse aux Meadows provides a precise date of activity in 1021; it does not date the first arrival.
Keep the distinctionFloki and Ubbe’s screen journeys should not be used to identify the crews at an archaeological site.
Who plays Ubbe?
Jordan Patrick Smith portrays Ubbe.
Smith was a finalist for the 2015 Heath Ledger Scholarship, which supports emerging Australian actors developing careers in the United States. His work beyond Vikings includes Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken and the BBC drama Banished.