MGM Viking Series

After emerging from bankruptcy last year, MGM is going to produce a new TV series on Vikings. The project’s executive producers are Michael Hirst and Morgan O’Sullivan. This team has already proved to be successful in both Camelot and The Tudors. MGM Vikings saga is reported to be a 10-episode series. Lately premium cable channels have had a lot of success with period dramas like Rome or Spartacus.

Hirst, who wrote all the episodes for The Tudors, will write the most of the Vikings series, too (Vikings is the working title). Hirst is said to have authored an unproduced script about Norse warriors years ago.  The production will begin next year in O’Sullivan’s brand new studio facility in Ireland. MGM is paying the cost outside Canada and Ireland (it will be a co-production of the two countries). MGM will also distribute the series in the U.S. and internationally.

The plot centers on Scandinavian, British and Irish history from the late-8th to the mid-11th century. The series’ main figure will be a Viking commander named Ragnar Lodbrok who once ruled Denmark and Sweden and was linked to two shieldmaidens and a queen.