‘Vikings’ Season 4 Return: Latest Photos Reveal Lagertha’s New Love Interest, Here’s Everything We Know So Far About Astrid

Ever since the mid-season finale of History’s Vikings, fans have been wondering about the Season 4 return. While we still don’t have an official return date beyond sometime in the fall, the show’s creator, Michael Hirst, spills the beans on Lagertha’s new love interest, Astrid.

Spoiler alert: This article discusses the Season 4 return of History’s Vikings. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid potential spoilers.

For many fans of History’s Vikings, the greatest love story in the show is that of Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) and Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel). However, it was a short-lived relationship for the TV series when Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland) turned up pregnant to Ragnar. Lagertha left her errant husband and decided to become the Earl of Kattegat. This has not been a easy feat, but Season 4 saw her reclaim her title once more by killing her husband-to-be, Kalf (Ben Robson), on their wedding day.

The trailer for the Season 4 return of Vikings released at San Diego Comic-Con, however, revealed — albeit briefly — that Lagertha will get a new love interest when Season 4 of Vikings returns this fall. A short clip showing Lagertha kissing a short-haired woman was all to be seen. However, eagle-eyed fans then noticed that this new character appeared in the background of other shots, usually near Lagertha.

Until now, very little was known about the woman who will play Lagertha’s new girlfriend. However, Michael Hirst recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly and revealed plenty of new information about Astrid, the woman who Lagertha has become involved with in the Season 4 return of Vikings.

Josefin Asplund is the name of the actress who plays Astrid. According to Hirst, Lagertha has given up on men for the time being. However, she still feels the need to be with someone, so chooses a woman over a man because she sees her of less of a threat to her Earldom than if she were to be with another man. After all, in the Viking culture, while women could gain some power, men quite often tried to overthrow it.

“You can well imagine why Lagertha might now be in a relationship with a woman,” Hirst explained to Entertainment Weekly. “Because all the men she’s been involved with have betrayed her and let her down. And no one could really expect her to live totally alone, she’s not that kind of a woman.”

Hirst also wanted to detract away from the fact Lagertha now appeared to be a lesbian, “I’m not saying that she’s suddenly discovered that she’s a lesbian, that’s not the point. The point is, she’s in a relationship with someone she feels more comfortable with, someone she feels she might be able to trust, and it’s a woman.”

However, Hirst warned that while Lagertha’s Earldom is safe at first from Astrid, Lagertha can expect conflict further on in the Season 4 return of Vikings. Astrid may, indeed, end up trying to take some of Lagertha’s power for herself.

While Michael Hirst is a big fan of Viking history, he is also a huge fan of The Beatles, and the character of Astrid in Season 4 of Vikings is based somewhat on the Astrid Kirchherr, the woman who “took the iconic pictures of [The Beatles] in their leather jackets, and gave them the Beatle haircuts.” Hirst even worked this into the script by way of having Astrid suggest to Ragnar’s sons that she would like to “change the way [they] looked.”

According to Hirst, Vikings fans will get their first glimpse of Astrid in the Season 4 return when Ragnar goes to visit Lagertha.

“Astrid appears, and isn’t in awe of him at all, and kind of teases him. He loves it, of course. She appears really modern, in that encounter.”

Are you excited by Lagertha’s new love interest in the Season 4 return of Vikings? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

Vikings will return later in 2016, and the series has been renewed for Season 5 by the History Channel.

[Image via History]