Every Season Of "Vikings," Ranked

The series also features a number of beloved supporting characters within Ragnar’s conquests, including Lagertha, Ragnar’s wife and shieldmaiden; Rollo, Ragnar’s jealous brother; Floki, Ragnar’s eccentric shipbuilder; and Björn, Ragnar’s temperamental son.

The series has also been a critic’s favorite over the years, with 14 Emmy Award nominations, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects and over 30 additional accolades, including a Satellite Award for Best Drama Television Series in 2018.

In fact, Vikings fans often clash about which season was the best, with almost every season having a solid argument for the crown. With that in mind, I’ve decided to revisit Vikings and assemble the definitive ranking to see which season is truly the stuff of legend.

After the shocking death of Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) in the latter half of Vikings’ fourth season, the fifth season knew that it would have to set the table for a new era of Vikings that could remain as exciting and bold as previous chapters while forging ahead without its beloved star. In doing so, Vikings decided to double down on its impressive supporting cast, with Katheryn Winnick’s Lagertha, Alexander Ludwig’s Björn, and Gustaf Skarsgård’s Floki holding down the fort as co-leads. The series also shook things up with some high-profile stunt casting, including Hirst’s former Tudors star Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a warrior priest as well as professional wrestler Adam “Edge” Copeland, who played legendary Icelandic warrior Kjetill Flatnose.

Furthermore, some critics took exception with just how far into fantasy the series falls in Season 5 and that some of the newer characters didn’t quite gel with the existing cast. That said, even at its worst, Vikings remained a well-produced spectacle, and it’s particular brand of melodrama was still effective at every turn, especially when the brutal battle sequences took center stage.

The second and final season in which Ragnar’s absence is felt, Vikings’ sixth outing is largely a showcase for Alexander Ludwig, who is understandably front-and-center in the proceedings alongside Alex Høgh Andersen, Marco Ilsø, and Jordan Patrick Smith, all of whom play Ragnar’s sons vying for power and infamy in their exploits. With Winnick and Skarsgård appearing in a more limited capacity and the addition of Ray Stevenson to the supporting cast, Season 6 of Vikings definitely feels like the end of the road for the series while impressively handling the material with the same weight and emotional maturity as the preceding seasons.

In its inaugural season, Vikings set the thrilling template for the historical fiction series, serving as a proper introduction to the cast and environment of the Viking Age. With the always-great Gabriel Byrne cast as Vikings’ first major villain, the nine-episode debut of Vikings helped put most of its up-and-coming performers on the map but also helped redefine the image of History as a cable channel that can produce prestige television with the best of them.

But Vikings certainly cemented both its style and substance in its debut chapter and helped transform Travis Fimmel and Katheryn Winnick into stars-to-watch as a result.

If the first season of Vikings was the series learning to walk, Season 2 was a full-on sprint, as Ragnar’s ascent into political prominence and violent glory ramped up the tension and violence. With a cast feeling more comfortable in their shoes and firing on all cylinders, Vikings further benefited from Michael Hirst’s cinematic voice as the show’s sole screenwriter, as the singular vision for the series helped maintain a tonal continuity enabling each episode’s director to indulge in the visuals of the established universe.

Fans of Vikings remain divided about the controversial “Ragnar’s Addiction” storyline that ran throughout Season 4, but there’s no denying that some of the best written and most engaging episodes from throughout the entirety of the series came about in this season. Taking a page out of The Walking Dead’s book with split season archetypes that established this season as the longest yet, Vikings' fourth season is among its most visually and narratively ambitious while injecting thought-provoking intrigue in the midst of the dynamic drama.

With some of the series’ best action, writing, and performances, the third season of Vikings stands out as the best that the show has to offer. Anchored by the jaw-dropping siege of Paris in Episode 8, Vikings is consistently exciting from top to bottom in its third chapter, with the ensemble cast playing off one another in a way that feels kinetic and dramatically rich.