By Sugandha Rawal
New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS): The fifth season of "Vikings" will debut in November, but the historical drama television series has already got a green signal for the sixth season. The shows creator, Michael Hirst, says the team is going to Russia for the season and is excited to explore a new world with the story once again.
"It has just been announced that we are doing a sixth season. In fact, we are already prepping and we start shooting on Friday. This season we are going to go to Russia, because Russia is called Russia because it was formed by the rough Vikings," Hirst told IANS over phone from Los Angeles.
"We love going to different lands and countries. Last season, we went to Iceland and Morocco because the Vikings went there. It is always amazing to go into new worlds with the cast. It is very exciting time," added Hirst, also the writer and executive producer of the show.
"Vikings" takes the audience to the world of the Vikings. First it narrated story of Ragnar Lothbrok, a legendary Viking hero.
Lothbrok died in the fourth season, and the storyline is now focusing on the new generation of the Vikings. The show's season 1 to 4 will air in India on AXN from September 18.
Hirst says his excitement about the show is intact even after five seasons.
"I am surprised that I am still as excited now as the time when we began... I have written 70 episodes so far and now I am writing 20 episodes, but I am still as engaged with the show as I ever was. I think it is an amazing show with lots of talented people," he added.
The first half of season 5 will premiere internationally on November 29, with the second half will go on air in 2018.
According to ew.com, series regular Katheryn Winnick will make her directorial debut by helming one episode of season 6. The new season will also feature a new character, Bishop Heahmund, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Talking about the show, Hirst, who also wrote Emmy Award-winning television series "The Tudors" and Shekhar Kapur's "Elizabeth", said: "(Working on the film) has been a brilliant experience because we shoot most of it in Ireland and it is a great joy to work with Irish cast and crew."
He says he enjoys telling the story of the Vikings.
"I have enjoyed trying to correct all the terrible cliches about them (that we had) as we grew up, certainly I did when I was younger, that they were just blood thirsty savages who went around murdering and killing everyone.
What about coming to India for shooting of the series?
Hirst loves the sound of it.
"That would be nice. I will ask the other producers whether we can go to India because it is true that one of the things that we complain about is that we never go to anywhere warm, and when I say that we have to go somewhere else, then we went to Iceland.
"So the crew would love to go to India," he said.