The third season of the historical dramatelevision seriesVikings premiered on February 19, 2015 on History in Canada, and concluded on April 23, 2015, consisting of ten episodes. The series broadly follows the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and later those of his sons. The first season of the series begins at the start of the Viking Age, marked by the Lindisfarne raid in 793. The third season follows the development of Ragnar's family, and the Vikings as they become more entwined in English mingling affairs, and also begin to raid further afield.
Cast
Main
Travis Fimmel as King Ragnar Lothbrok, the head of the Viking earldom of Kattegat who became king after Horik's death
Carl Shaaban as Jesus, appearing in Ragnar's visions
James Murphy as Ansgar, a monk who is trying to convert Vikings in Kattegat
Episodes
Production
Development
An Irish-Canadian co-production presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Vikings was developed and produced by Octagon Films and Take 5 Productions. Morgan O'Sullivan, Sheila Hockin, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, James Flynn, John Weber, and Michael Hirst are credited as executive producers. This season was produced by Steve Wakefield and Keith Thompson. Bill Goddard and Séamus McInerney act as co-producers. The production team for this season includes casting directors Frank and Nuala Moiselle, costume designer Joan Bergin, visual effects supervisors Julian Parry and Dominic Remane, stunt action designers Franklin Henson and Richard Ryan, composer Trevor Morris, production designer Mark Geraghty, editors Aaron Marshall for the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth episodes, and Tad Seaborn for the second, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth episodes, and cinematographer PJ Dillon.
Music
The musical score for the third season was composed by Trevor Morris in collaboration with Einar Selvik and Steve Tavaglione. The opening sequence is again accompanied by the song "If I Had a Heart" by Fever Ray. The soundtrack album was released on May 15, 2015 by Sony Classical Records. Two additional pieces not included in the album are Selvik's original songs "Voluspá"—featured in "Born Again", just before the score track "Floki Appears to Kill Athelstan"—and "Heljarlokk", written by Selvik and Lindy-Fay Hella and featured in "The Dead". "Voluspá" was released as a single by Wardruna on November 9, 2018. Additional non-original music by Norwegian music group Wardruna is featured in the episodes "The Wanderer", "Paris", "To the Gates!" and "Breaking Point". The featured tracks—which were not included in the soundtrack release—are "Helvegen", "Løyndomsriss", "Heimta Thurs", "Algir — Tognatale", "Rotlaust Tre Fell", "Sowelu", "IwaR", "IngwaR" and "Ár var alda". Music by Canadian throat singerTanya Tagaq is also featured in this season's soundtrack; the vocals in Tagaq's "Uja" are contained in the score track "Battle for the Hill of the Ash", which plays in the episode "Warrior's Fate", while the song "Howl" is featured in the episode "The Dead".
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating, with an average rating of 8/10 based on eleven reviews. On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, it scored 81 out of 100, based on seven reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
