The Real Reason Vikings Is Ending

After six seasons, years of rich historical drama and a great deal of ratings success, what exactly made History decide to axe its flagship show? These are the real reasons why Vikings is finally coming to an end.

Growing up on his parents' farm in Australia, Travis Fimmel was a million miles away from the bright lights of Hollywood, but a chance encounter with a modeling scout changed the course of his life forever. After a stint working in London, he decided to try his luck Stateside, and according to the Sydney Morning Herald, was offered a contract instantly after, quote, "swaggering barefoot into LA Models." He quickly became the face of Calvin Klein, but while he made money posing in his underwear, he was also fine-tuning his acting skills.

Fimmel had a number of roles in Australia prior to Vikings, but it was playing the show's enigmatic lead that brought him international recognition. His intense and often sympathetic portrayal of farmer-turned-Viking leader Ragnar Lothbrok was the true heart of the show, so when the character was killed off in season 4, Vikings entered uncharted territory. According to Forbes writer Erik Kain, it was a gamble that ultimately didn't pay off.

When Ragnar met his end in season 4, viewers were supposed to get on board with the idea of his sons heading to England to avenge his death. We were introduced to his first-born son, Bjorn, way back in the first season, but we didn't really get to know the rest of Ragnar's brood until after the season 4 time jump.

Unfortunately for Hirst, this never really happened. Despite his best efforts, audiences just didn't seem as interested in watching the antics of Ragnar's offspring, even when they were hell-bent on avenging the man himself. After new of the show’s end broke,

History ordered a sixth season of Vikings before season 5 had even begun. At the time, nobody knew that the sixth season would be the last, but the decision to cancel the show seems to have been influenced (at least in part) by a decline in viewership. Following the season 5 premiere, CarterMatt tried to soften the blow by suggesting that it's "hard for any cable series to amass large numbers these days," but the facts are still hard to ignore. The outlet wrote:

This wasn't a new trend, either: the previous season also saw a significant drop. According to TV Series Finale, season 4 of Vikings was down by a whopping "28 percent in the demo and 44 percent in viewers." History renewed anyway, but the network must have recognized that the show was approaching its end. One surefire way of getting waning viewers to stick with a show is to announce that the next season will be the last, and it seems the network wanted to wrap Vikings up before it saw a mass exodus. Keep watching the video to learn the real reason Vikings is ending!

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Ragnar’s Death | 0:13
The sons of Ragnar | 1:19
Viewing figures | 2:23
Going nowhere | 3:39
Stars in demand | 4:53
Rivals | 5:57
Gone too soon? | 7:23
A natural end | 8:20
Continuation | 9:27