Vikings season 6: cast and episode overview
Season 6 contains 20 story episodes, from New Beginnings to The Last Act. It is commonly presented in two ten-episode parts.
Key roles in this season’s story include Ivar the Boneless (Alex Høgh Andersen), Hvitserk (Marco Ilsø), Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith) and King Harald Finehair (Peter Franzén). The full selection below connects characters with performers and their biographies.
Reference: HISTORY season guide.
What is season 6 about?
The final season divides Ragnar's inheritance among defense, conquest and exploration. Bjorn confronts the burden of protecting Norway, Ivar enters the power struggles of the Rus, and Ubbe pursues a western future. The ending asks whether continuity means repeating the ancestors' violence or choosing a different relationship with the world.
- Story episodes
- 20
- Start here
- New Beginnings
- Season finale
- The Last Act
The 20 episodes are often presented in two ten-episode parts. This guide keeps the story in its complete season order.
The turning points
- Lagertha dies and Kattegat mourns.
- Bjorn's final stand helps repel the Rus.
- Ubbe reaches a new land and reunites with Floki.
- Ivar dies in the last English campaign.
Character arcs
- Lagertha's attempted retirement cannot insulate her from violence.
- The Rus campaign connects Ivar's exile to Norway's struggle for survival.
- Ubbe's voyage carries the settlement dream beyond familiar waters.
- The final English campaign closes the brothers' military story.
Themes running through the season
- The burden of inherited fame
- Power, fear and vulnerability
- Encounter and the possibility of change
Vikings season 6 cast and characters
Start with these key roles from the season. Follow a performer for their biography and other screen work, or a character for their story. This selection follows the episode guides and is not a complete credits list.
| Character | Played by |
|---|---|
| Ivar the Boneless | Alex Høgh Andersen |
| Hvitserk | Marco Ilsø |
| Ubbe | Jordan Patrick Smith |
| King Harald Finehair | Peter Franzén |
| Bjorn Ironside | Alexander Ludwig |
| Lagertha | Katheryn Winnick |
| Floki | Gustaf Skarsgård |
The season’s story map
Explore these places on the interactive world map.
Kattegat
The series’ home port and center of family and political power.
Kiev
The Rus court associated with Oleg, Igor and Ivar’s exile.
Iceland
The volcanic island at the center of Floki’s settlement story.
Rus
The eastern power whose ambitions extend into the Norse world.
Norway
The contested setting for competing claims to royal authority.
The western land
The inhabited land reached by Ubbe’s expedition, where discovery becomes a question of coexistence.
Greenland
The harsh settlement landscape encountered on the western voyage.
Wessex
The English kingdom where land, alliances and royal authority intersect.
England
The wider setting of the Saxon kingdoms and Norse campaigns.
Story settings differ from production locations. Explore where Vikings was filmed.
Every season 6 episode, in order
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 episode guide
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 episode guide
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 episode guide
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 episode guide
The Key
The Norwegian election becomes a contest of influence rather than an inevitable coronation for Bjorn. In Kiev, a rescue and an uncanny resemblance complicate Ivar’s position.
Read episode guide
Death and the Serpent
Harald wins the Norwegian crown as Lagertha wins her village’s battle. Her subsequent journey to Kattegat ends with Hvitserk fatally mistaking her for the enemy haunting him.
Read episode guide
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 episode guide
Valhalla Can Wait
Bjorn stages a severe punishment for Hvitserk but ultimately exiles him. Kattegat’s domestic instability unfolds alongside the first tangible signs of a Rus attack on Norway.
Read episode guide
Resurrection
Ivar and Hvitserk reunite while the Rus invasion takes shape. Bjorn’s marriage to Ingrid competes with preparations for a threat that requires cooperation with Harald.
Read episode guide
The Best Laid Plans
Bjorn and Harald attempt to stop the Rus invasion. The battle is intercut with unsettling conversations between Bjorn and Ivar, leaving defeat clear but individual fates unresolved.
Read episode guide
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 episode guide
All Change
Bjorn’s death opens a succession contest in Kattegat. In Kiev, Oleg tightens control around Igor, while Ivar’s plans become more exposed and Ubbe chooses another voyage.
Read episode guide
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 episode guide
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 episode guide
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 episode guide
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 episode guide
The Raft of Medusa
The English campaign begins while Ubbe’s exhausted survivors approach land. In Kattegat, Ingrid turns Erik’s ambition into a vulnerability as the rulers abroad prepare for battle.
Read episode guide
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 episode guide
The Lord Giveth...
Alfred and Ivar begin the decisive engagement. Harald dies, Ingrid survives the plot against her, and Ubbe discovers that a familiar voyager has reached the new land before him.
Read episode guide
The Last Act
Ivar’s final battle ends in death, Hvitserk accepts a new faith and name, and Ubbe faces the first serious test of coexistence in the land where he has found Floki.
Read episode guideWhat to notice on a rewatch
- Compare Ivar's treatment of Igor with his earlier use of other people.
- Notice how accounts of Bjorn's final actions become legend.
- The western encounter is a dramatic storyline, not a substitute for Indigenous history.
The history behind this season.
How did Alfred’s Wessex survive?
Alfred’s defeat of Guthrum at Edington in 878 was followed by negotiation and baptism. Wessex survived, while Scandinavian power continued elsewhere. It was a turning point within a long struggle for rule.
Keep the distinctionThe series’ household relationships and compressed chronology are not a map of Alfred’s documented reign.
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.
What was life like for women beyond the battlefield?
The most useful history extends beyond a warrior’s career. Household authority, textile production, marriage, assembly politics and enslavement reveal different kinds of power, work and constraint.
Keep the distinctionLagertha’s screen career is a prompt for historical questions, not evidence that every woman had the same rights or opportunities.