Travis Fimmel
Here’s a Norse of a different color.
The History channel is putting the finishing touches on it new dramatic series, “Vikings,” set to debut early next year.
And this is your first look at the pillaging-and-plunder epic in action.
Set in the eighth century, “Vikings” is set as a family drama based on the real-life Ragnar Lothbrok, the first king of the Viking tribes.
Don’t let the severe, East Village haircut fool you. Lothbrok (played by the young Australiana actor Travis Fimmel) is the star of the Norse Age who led a pagan army across the North Sea to the coasts of England and France.
Unsatisfied with his unadventurous clan leader (played by Gabriel Byrne), the visionary Lothbrok and his men strike out west in search of riches and against the forces of Christianity which were threatening to throttle the ancient Norse culture.
The invasion of what is now Northern Europe was made possible by a new technology — the long boat — which could carry men and supplies quickly over the open seas and then sail up the shallowest rivers to the heart of Christian cities.
The Vikings of myth — ruthless and barbaric — are to get a more human face from this series, created by Michael Hirst who did “The Tudors” for Showtime and Cate Blanchett’s two “Elizabeth” movies.
Lothbrok’s marriage was, by all accounts, a love-match and not an arranged affair, as was the custom of the day.
A character based on the mischievous Norse god Loki (played by Gustaf Skarsgard) has been written in, along with the ship builder who designs the new generation of Viking war ship.
The series debuts March 3, three weeks before the return of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” which — while a fantasy — seems to have much the same Dark Ages feel as “Vikings.”
The series will run for nine weeks.