Vikings will be coming to an end, but it won't be doing so on the History Channel. It's been announced that the final ten episodes of the sixth and final season of the series will instead drop on Amazon Prime Video on December 30th. The episodes will still air on History, but that release date hasn't yet been announced.
"Our monumental Vikings saga is coming to its conclusion, but not before you’ve had to chance to watch some of my all-time favorite episodes," said Vikings creator and writer Michael Hirst. "Prime Video will uniquely expose the series finale to a streaming audience first. Prepare to be astonished, and for many surprises along the way. And if you have tears to shed, then also be prepared to shed them." The first ten episodes of the sixth season aired earlier this year on History and concluded with a battle between "the Rus and Vikings where brother fought brother, Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig) fighting for his homeland alongside King Harald (Peter Franzen) against Ivar the Boneless (Alex Høgh Andersen), now fighting with the Rus forces in an attempt to gain control of Norway." In a statement, Amazon Prime Video vice-president of worldwide content licensing Brad Beale said:
Prime Video has already delighted Prime members with all five and a half seasons of ‘Vikings’. On December 30, Prime members in the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Ireland will be the first to learn the fates of the beloved characters as the epic drama concludes in the final ten episodes.
Although this will be the end of Vikings, Michael Hirst is also developing a sequel series, Vikings: Valhalla, for Netflix. The sequel series will be an explosive new chapter of the Vikings legend as it takes place "100 years after the original series concludes and dramatizes the adventures of the most famous Vikings who ever lived – Leif Erikson, Freydis, Harald Harada and the Norman King William the Conqueror (also a Viking descendant). These men and women will blaze new paths as they fight for survival in an ever changing and evolving Europe." Netflix has already ordered 24 episodes of Vikings: Valhalla. Additionally, it was recently announced that Hirst is also developing a miniseries for History revolving around the Great Plague of London. You can check out a trailer for the final episodes of Vikings below.