When Will ‘Vikings’ Season 5 Episode 1 Air? Creator Teases Floki’s Fate

Vikings Season 4 finale may have just aired last week, but fans of the hit History channel series are already asking when Vikings Season 5, Episode 1 will get a release date. A new report predicted that the highly anticipated fifth season could premiere in the fall.

According to Bustle, there is a possibility that Vikings Season 5, Episode 1 will premiere sometime in the fall of next year. Seasons 1 to 3 all premiered in February so it’s safe to assume that Season 4 would have the same air date. The site, however, pointed out that a February 2017 premiere seemed “unlikely” because of the lack of announcement from showrunners to date.

“It’s possible the show will make its fans wait a full year before returning, or premiere in the fall the way Season 4 did,” the site explained.

Even before Season 4 finale aired, History has already renewed Vikings for Season 5. According to Deadline, the network has ordered 20 episodes, which back in March, was reported to premiere in 2017. The early renewal did not come as a surprise as Vikings remains to be the No. 1 telecast on Thursday nights on cable in all key demographics. The site reported that the show pulls in an average of over 4.2 million total viewers.

Following the death of Ragnar (Travis Fimmel), Vikings creator Michael Hirst revealed that Season 5 would focus on the sons’ journey. Ivar (Alex Høgh Andersen) killing his own brother, Sigurd (David Lindström), has definitely brought a shift in the brothers’ relationship.

In an interview with Variety, Hirst shared that some fans predicted that Vikings would end up getting cancelled after Ragnar’s death. Clearly, History renewing Vikings for Season 5 proved them wrong. With such a great ensemble, Hirst believed that Vikings could go on for at least two more seasons.

“Honestly, I think people did think when Travis died everything would change and yet on we went, the machine went on, we had so many great new actors. I’m pretty sure we can go on for another two seasons.”

While the production of Vikings Season 5 is currently underway, Hirst shared that he is currently in the middle of writing the last two episodes for the fifth season. If fans were shocked with how Season 4 ended, the showrunner hinted that the next season would only get better.

“I’m just writing the last two episodes of Season 5. I could tell you things that would blow your mind — things we’ve shot in Season 5 are amazing. I think we will be able to end the show the way we intended to,” Hirst said.

Apart from Sigurd, another character death Vikings fans did not see coming is that of Helga (Maude Hirst). Michael Hirst admitted that killing off his daughter’s character was not an easy decision, but he had to do it as it was simply the end of her storyline. As difficult as that was, Hirst believed it was far more important to stay true to the show’s story.

“There was a lot of tears. But it was the storyline. You can’t cheat the story. If you cheat the story, the whole show falls apart. You have to be authentic. If you kill someone and bring them back, like in Game of Thrones, the cheat is so big you can’t believe the show anymore. I couldn’t do that even to my own daughter,” he explained.

With Helga and Ragnar gone, Hirst revealed that Vikings fans will see a completely different Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård) in Season 5.

Are you excited for Vikings Season 5 premiere? Were you surprised by Sigurd and Helga’s death? Sound off in the comments below.

Tune in for more for more Vikings Season 5 updates and spoilers.

[Featured Image by Jonathan Hession/History]