Vikings Creator On The Real Reason The Series Ended With Season 6

Created by Michael Hirst in 2013, the Vikings television series is a historical drama based on the legendary stories of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Norse hero who is said to have led his people in many successful raids throughout Britain, France, and the Roman Empire. The show also focuses on Ragnar's sons, including Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Ironside, Ubbe, and a few others — many of whom are known to be actual historical figures of Norse history. 

Starting Vikings as a humble farmer, Ragnar and his family continue to grow in prominence to the power of kings. Over the course of the show's six seasons, Vikings — which is set in the eighth century — covers around three decades of the characters' lives as the Vikings expand their influence, taking over and exploring new lands. At the end of the final season, they have finally reached America, known to Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith) and his fellow travelers as the Golden Land.

After six critically acclaimed, action-packed seasons, Vikings came to an end with the second half of season 6. The final ten episodes premiered on Amazon Prime Video on December 30, 2020, also airing on the show's original home, History, shortly thereafter. For fans of Vikings, saying goodbye to the series has been bittersweet, and while watching the last season, some fans might see potential in keeping Vikings going. However, as show creator Hirst explained in an interview with Collider, this was always where the story of Ragnar and his descendants would end.

In his discussion with Collider, Hirst revealed exactly why Vikings was meant to end with season 6. Along with being a creator, Hirst has also written all but five of the show's episodes. That means that he's spent the last seven years fully immersed in this story. Even his wife pointed out that although the show clearly gave him so much joy, it was his whole life and he needed a break. Hirst said that after all that time living with the Vikings, "I needed to end the saga. But more importantly, I needed to wrap it up." 

For the last ten episodes, Hirst had the enormous task of providing a satisfying ending for both the characters and the overarching story, saying that he "didn't want to cheat anyone." Fortunately for him, he always knew one thing for certain, and that was "that the ending would be the discovery of America, and Newfoundland," which he had planned since the beginning. With that as his final destination, Hirst was able to map out season 6 as the last chapter of Vikings, and end the story fittingly. 

Now that the final episodes of Vikings are out, fans get to see where all of their favorite characters end up. But those truly mourning Vikings' end can rest happy knowing that there's a sequel series in development at Netflix called Vikings: Valhalla. So although Vikings has finished, this definitely won't be the last visit to this rich world of Viking legends.