The wonderful world of Comic Con has just passed us by, but the effects from the convention will stay with us forever.
One of the huge presences at this years SDCC was History Channels Vikings. An amazing combination of Drama and History. Season 3 is already started principle filming and what we learned at the press roundtable really makes us excited.
First up was Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) and Rollo (Clive Standen)
What can we expect from Season 3?
Travis: Paris is a huge part in the upcoming season, we’ve done the England thing, setting up the farm. Ragnar wants to get back to raiding.
Is there anything specific that you are excited about in the new season?
Travis: I’m glad a lot of the family stuff is out of the way, he was all about exploring and got caught up in the family stuff back home. Now he gets to get back to what he loves to do.
Are you surprised by the reaction from the fans? And have the writers written anything for you that has totally shocked you?
Travis: Yeah surprised I guess, but we have a great team at the helm so I guess it’s no surprised the show does pretty well. We haven’t read the last four scripts, so we don’t have any idea whats going to happen in Paris. I’m surprised I haven’t been killed yet.
Clive: We’ve seen some of the concept art, they’re still building Paris, its incredible. It’s so different from what we’ve seen before and its impressive. Paris is all about the architecture, the castles and structures are impenetrable but Ragnar and his team have managed to get inside. So we get to tell the story of the first raid on Paris. We’ve done our research on it, but Michael hasn’t really told us what to expect.
Has the relationship between you two squared away and will be actually be able to see you together more.
Travis: Yeah we’re together more, but once again the women cause us grief.
Clive: I think what draws us together, and a mutual respect, is that Pagan Christianity thing. There is unrest in the camp with some people not liking the Christians being involved in anything and keeping our Pagan ways. And I think the brothers being brought up the same way, so they have the same beliefs, they have that as a common interest and I think Rollo finds a way of having the Brother’s back. He doesn’t have to share that much with words and they can read eachothers minds.
Travis: And like I said, we go back to the raiding this year more so than all the drama. We’ll be back together on the boat.
When you are on the boat, are you actually on the ocean?
Travis: Yes, and no. We’re on a lot of lakes and in the sea and rivers. Have we shot in the ocean this year?
Clive: No, we filmed on a lake, but we get up on the Irish sea to when we need to get that great landscape behind us. But obviously a lot of raiding is down estuary so we can narrow it down. We haven’t had to break out the gimbal, its a big hydraulic boat that goes up and down like a ride, but we haven’t had to get it out from the garage yet.
Audiences of today, most people would have no idea of the concept of “roughing it”, but there is something about stories like yours where you exist in a world where everything is a struggle.
Travis: I think the appeal is the relationships, the same kinds of relationships go on between people. Yeah it is a struggle, its such a different life, we’re all used to this life. Its intriguing to people, a kind of escapism.
Clive: Ragnar has a line at the beginning of season 1 where he says “All things begin and end with stories”, and thats what I love about our show. It really is going back to the basic of storytelling, not just in a drama TV series, but actually the vikings are telling stories. There is no television, there is no Facebook, there is no way of sharing than sitting be the fire and telling stories. The first time something it was told it was a story about a snake, but seven generations down the line its a story about a giant serpent that bites it tail and wraps itself around the world. That fascinates me, the Chinese whispers of things, the hearsay and how legends are created.
What is it like going home after living in the world of The Vikings, and going back into the world of The Vikings.
Travis: I’ve got a pretty good groove going. We’ve got a great crew. It’s the same crew so nothing changes, we’re all really close and the sets are always there.
Clive: Well I’ve got three children to go home too, so I have to somehow leave Rollo at the door. I got into acting to draw attention away from myself, instead of drawing it towards myself. Rollo gives me that perfect chance to do that. I look in my mirror and I don’t recognize myself, its nice to remove all the war paint at the end of the day and step back into the role of Clive at the end of the day.
Travis, when you sat down Alex gave you a little water over the head. Is that retaliation to something you did?
Travis: Hahah, that’s just bad parenting on my part. I’ll get him back, I just thought that was really rude. ALEX! That was really rude! I’ve got a good practical joke coming up. I’ll get him back.
Are you guys involved in the creative process at all? As your characters develop do you ever think “He’d act a certain way in this situation or wouldn’t really act this way”.
Travis: No, not really. Michael writes so well, and he’s seen how we act in scenes and really picks up on it, and writes the characters in a certain way. He’s a very talented man.
Clive: Well its a really funny thing. You get some actors that say “My character wouldn’t do that”, and thats bullshit. The writers told you have to do that, and you have to find a way to do that. There is always a way, and that keeps you on your toes as an actor. In a long running series where you don’t see the scripts right away you have to be able to react.
Next we sat down with Alexander Ludwig (Bjorn) and Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha)
Can you tell us what the water over Travis’s head meant?
Alex: I promise I’m not a total dick, you don’t understand. Thats just the relationship we have. Haha. I just realized it must be tough for you (Katheryn) with all of us.
So tell us about Season 3.
Katheryn: Season 3 is bigger and better than the last two. You’ve heard the rumors about Paris, and you will be seeing a lot of new characters coming on board. With the existing characters, their dynamic has changed. For example Lagertha and Bjorn’s relationship has changed, as Mother and Son. You will see every character have their own arcs, ups and downs, all within ten episodes. That is the genius of Michael Hirst’s writing.
How has your relationship changed with Ragnar, with the two wives?
Katheryn: Thats a good question. I think…it’s really hard for a husband to see his exwife come into power in her own right and not need her anymore. You’ll have to ask Travis, it has to be challenging. Do they still have that love for each other? Maybe. We do touch upon it in this Season. You’ll see Lagertha change, she’s now an Earl and her status brings a lot of new challenges and struggles. It’s really fun to play and it’s great to watch. She’s a free woman, she can do what she wants and be with who she wants.
Alex: Even her son!
Katheryn: Hahahah, this isn’t game of thrones!
Alex: Hahahah. Well as we were saying earlier, historically, and we really pride ourselves in be as historically accurate as possible. Which is tough, because there is little to go off, obviously some little things have to change. Bjorn, in this Season, you really see him become a man. Before it was a coming of age story, now he’s his own man. She shares the same respect with his Mother and Father now, and they share the same respect with him. They’re more companions if anything. In terms of the rivalry, back then, they were more like friends or like a brother. Close companions. Which is tough because Bjorn is going to want to have his own power soon.
Katheryn: And in history, Bjorn is more famous than Ragnar is.
Alex: Yeah! There is a lot of that being touched on, but at the same time he’s smart. He has a powerful Mother and Father and he is learning as much as possible from them.
You liking the new hair?
Alex: Yeah! I’m really loving it.
Katheryn: You’re rocking it! One of my favorite things is the transformation process when you come on set. When I come on set, we start with the hair. I get the braids and it takes about 30 minutes, and they are absolutely amazing in terms of telling a story. A lot of her personality is told through stuff like her hair.
Alex: Our makeup and wardrobe department is really amazing. I really hope they get recognized for their effort.
Katheryn: What is interesting about this show, compared to others, is there is no records of how the Vikings or the Scandinavians looked. We don’t really know how they looked, or how they spoke. So you have to, and I also really hope it gets recognized for the creative effort that goes into it. A lot of other shows have a reference of how everything looked. Like say a show from the 60’s, or say a fantasy show where they don’t have to conform to anything at all. It’s really fun to see how they bring it all out even down to everyday life.
Do you find yourself learning new things from episode to episode?
Katheryn: *Long phrase in another language*. That was old Norse, I just learned that. Hahahah, I loved it. It’s really challenging, but it’s so fun. We’ll be invading France soon so there will be other languages in there as well. Lagertha is really evolving as a character, you will really see her in a different light this Season. We only get the scripts from episode to episode so I am still dissecting it myself.
You say the characters have changed over the Seasons, especially from the writers points of view, how has your approach to expressing the characters have changed?
Katheryn: It’s a TV show, we don’t have it all figured out. You can discover new sides of your characters personality. We only get two episodes (scripts) at a time, so I have no idea where Lagertha is going to go. Right now we’re shooting 5 and 6, so where she is going to end up in the finale? I don’t know. Which is amazing, cause in life you don’t know where the future will bring. You can see Lagertha is in a different place now. But because it is a TV show, you can explore different layers to the character, and have the freedom to do it for a longer story line. This doesn’t feel like a TV show, it feels like a movie. It’s not formulaic.
You’ve guys have been on really specific journey, and in a weird way the History Channel has been going on a new journey. How have they changed since the start of the show?
Alex: They took a big risk, and they put themselves out there and are really becoming a very credible channel. Before when you asked someone if they wanted to watch the History Channel they’d just be liked “What?!”. This is their first quote unquote “drama”, and I am blown away by how much they’ve put into this. The huge risk they took with it, and I am so proud to be apart of it.
Katheryn: Yeah, and I can’t say this show should be on any other network. If it was on another channel, it would probably be watered down, or prettied up, or too many cooks in the kitchen. They really trust the people they hired in Ireland. And, the Female viewers of the network have skyrocketed.
Alex: It goes to show that when you give your writer creative freedom and trust that they’ll do their job. So many other studios are riding the backs of the writers, and they don’t get the chance to do what they want to do.
Katheryn: What you may not know, is that Michael Hirst writes every episode by himself. He starts in November and writes everything by himself. He’s really comforting to know that your characters are in great hands.
Next up we sat down with the shows writer, Michael Hirst
Unfortunately, my recording from this interview didn’t turn out, so I can’t go into the same level of detail as I did with the others.
What Michael did put emphasis on was how important the attack on Paris would be, and having Ragnar start to settle outside Scandinavia. He said how important being historically accurate was to him as a Writer and he put a lot of effort to be as close as possible with the little source material they had. The pride he has for his show is incredible.
Final Thoughts
History is really coming strong with the third Season. They obviously have a great team working on the show and have consistently put out an amazing narrative. I cannot wait to see the show return 2015.
Photo Credit: Stanley Wong