How Long After Vikings Does Netflix's Vikings: Valhalla Take Place?

This week the Vikings invade our TV screens yet again, arriving on Netflix to plunder and pillage in "Vikings: Valhalla." The new show that's all about smacking shields and getting hammered is the eagerly-anticipated sequel series to the critically acclaimed History original that followed the exploits of Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) and his many vicious sons.

For fans of the original series, it won't take long to spot key locations from — and fun references to — the earlier series. The connections are so essential to the fabric of the show, that many viewers may be wondering how much time has elapsed since Ivar Boneless' failed invasion of Wessex and Hvitserk's subsequent conversion to Christianity under duress. These two series clearly take place in the same world and cover the same cultural group, albeit across different generations. 

So, exactly how much time has passed between "Vikings" and "Valhalla"? And do any of the big players involve have a connection to the Lothbrok line that came before them? Here's where "Valhalla" fits into the timeline.

With the Lothbrok line long since faded into the annals of Viking history, "Valhalla" picks up 150 years after History's popular series about the beginning of the Viking Age in England, and the Saxon wars with the sons of Lothbrok. "Valhalla" introduces us to new Scandinavian factions embracing Catholicism and turning their backs on the old Norse gods. The successor series reunites us with this old world at the dawn of a new king's hopes for conquest. King Canute (Bradley Freegard), the King of Norway, is planning to return to England following the historical massacre of St. Brice's Day, which saw pockets of Viking settlers killed. Those that survived had to flee back to their home shores.

The events in question really did occur, with King Canute taking the throne of England in 1016. This event places us even more concretely in the pages of history than the original "Vikings" show ever managed to do. After all, Ragnar Lothbrok was arguably a mythological figure, whereas King Cnute is clearly a historical monarch.

"Vikings: Valhalla" is now streaming on Netflix.