We’ve been hearing about The Northman for years now, mostly because it was filming in early 2020, as everything went into lockdown. Alex Skarsgard and Anya Taylor-Joy were basically stuck in Northern Ireland for a short time. The production ramped back up in the fall of 2020. The film stars Skarsgard, Anya, Nicole Kidman, Willem Defoe, Ethan Hawke and Claes Bang. It’s about Vikings! Viking revenge, to be more specific. Other Vikings killed Alex’s father (Ethan Hawke) and Alex seeks revenge when he grows up. It’s directed by Robert Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay. The first trailer came out this week:
While I like historical dramas and God knows, I enjoy Alex Skarsgard, I guess I’m just not into Viking sh-t? This kind of left me cold. It bugs me that Alex looks so much older than Anya, who I guess is supposed to be his love interest. She looks so childlike compared to him. I do love Ethan Hawke’s whole look and vibe here, but Nicole Kidman’s expressionless face as a Viking queen took me out. No!! They should have cast someone else. Kidman can’t play all of these dumb parts. Anyway, what’s the vibe? Do you want to see this? I’ll pass.
Poster & stills courtesy of ‘The Northman’.
I thought this was about Vampire Eric. I’ll see myself out.
Haha, I had the same thought. 😀
Okay my real answer is that this reminds me of the Last Kingdom, the beginning at least (I only saw the first season of it, maybe only half at that) and that it seems darker and grittier than a lot of historical dramas. I don’t know. I’ll probably watch it when it comes out on streaming.
Ok, I LOVE The Last Kingdom. Definitely check out the rest of the series. Supposedly there is a 5th season coming out sometime. I could be wrong about what season they are on though!
This seems very similar to the first season.
Also…..Vikings on the History channel is my fav. ASkars’ older brother is one of the main characters.
I loved the seasons of the Last Kingdom that I saw (i think up to s3)…i need to rewatch and catch up!
honestly TLK is probably going to continue being superior to whatever this is. sorry, i’m feeling cynical.
oh I really liked TLK, I actually stopped bc I was watching it while working out, which was okay at home but not at the gym on my phone (since I never knew when there would be something incredibly violent or sexual, lol), but mainly bc I thought my husband would really like it so stopped to wait to watch it with him. I’ll have to put it back on our list for this winter. after the Witcher.
We have never watched Vikings either so might as well give that a try too lol.
i watch these kinds of shows while working out too, Becks!
Vikings first few seasons were pretty decent. the show went downhill at some point and i just…stopped caring, but i was into the first 2 seasons at least. i feel like as a show it has a lower rewatchability factor than some other things, but give it a go.
Yeah WTF? Why cast him in a role with the same name as his most famous role??
He has been developing this with Eggars for 5+ years. If he didn’t like the character’s name, he could have changed it.
Okay but I’ve only just heard of it so I need time to recover from the disappointment that it’s not a vampire back story. 😥
Me three, and I was actually a little excited for it.
I would watch it if I could convince myself he’d turn into a vampire at some point.
I LOL for real!
I think those that loved Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings are the target audience.
My boyfriend would be into this and I myself will enjoy my blissfully uninterrupted nap on the sofa.
LOTR is one of my favorite movies/trilogies ever (but i’ve read the books, and they’re honestly NOT THAT GOOD!)….GOT is insufferable at times but i still managed to “get into” it really hard right up until…let’s just pretend the ending seasons never happened.
GOT i also have many criticisms of (Writers: “How do we add drama?” “I don’t know, more fetishized rape?” “You’re a genius!”) but even though I was once raped myself, they weren’t triggering for me, so I could look past them. If anything I just felt annoyed by the hack writing decisions.
All I’m trying to say is, don’t lump every fantasy nerd into the same category. i don’t even LIKE the Wheel of Time books but the amazon show is currently blowing GOT out of the water in terms of how invested I am in it. We all have our particular tastes and if you go on any fantasy forum you will find us fighting and arguing about this kind of stuff constantly lol
Haha, did you see the colbert bit the other night about the LOTR being the best trilogy ever? If not, definitely look it up on youtube, we died watching it.
I love the LOTR movies and last winter thought I would read the books….it took me 6 weeks just to get through Fellowship. Two Towers and ROTK are there taunting me on my book shelf lol.
I never read the Wheel of time but my brothers were obsessed with it (that series and LOTR…oh and Dune….are the only books I remember them reading as we were growing up, my brother would just reread the WoT books over and over until the next one was released, at least how I remember it) so anyway, we should probably check that one out too.
i haven’t watched any colbert lately but used to be an avid viewer. he is a HUGE LOTR nerd, he has done a bunch of bits on how much he loves LOTR several times in his career. i’ll definitely check it out, i always need something funny to keep my mind off things.
if you need a TLDR of Wheel of Time, it’s basically Lord of the Rings but without hobbits and with slightly more lesbians (not a bad thing, but in the book they’re…not written well. also readers who have made it further than me told me that Jordan’s WoT “lesbians” turn straight once they find “real men”. barf) …that said the TV show seems to be doing them justice.
oh, and Dune? my boyfriend loves it, i have never read it so cannot pass judgement, but Dune is entirely in another category to LOTR/WOT
edit: forgot to add. about COMPLETING LOTR BOOKS (which is a challenge) i highly recommend getting them on audible (the Andy Serkis narrated ones) and listening at like, 1.3x speed. i COULD NOT get through them any other way, and i have read plenty of 400-600+ page books easily in my time. the thing about those books were they were actually good.
also listening to Andy Serkis sing the f–king songs makes you realize just how bad Tolkien is as a lyricist.
Are Eurocentric white supremacists the target market? Kind of Q shamanY. Might give the blood bath a hard pass.
Love Alex! Also, I never thought I liked Viking historical content until I watched The Last Kingdom on Netflix. Incredible show…obsessed.
WHY is the actor who plays the hero in Last Kingdom not a MASSIVE star?? He’s SO good!! I am totally a fan of all Viking stuff after Last Kingdom. Way better than Vikings, which went badly downhill after about the 3rd or 4th season…
I’ve watched The Last Kingdom all the way through three different times so yeah, I’m with it for sure.
Robert Eggers is one of the best filmmakers out there right now. So in.
@Soni:
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I adore his work.
My husband and I were once watching The Americans, and he was criticizing one of the characters for willfully going along with the plans of the spy. My husband said to me something along the lines of, “You would never be stupid enough to do something that a random foreign national asked you to do.” Without missing a beat, I responded, “I would do anything—anything—Alexander Skarsgård asked of me.”
That said, testosterone-fueled rage is not my genre, especially in these times, even for a Skarsgård. I’ll likely skip.
This ^^. Seems too dark and too ragey for these Unprecedented Times. I love me some Alexander Skarsgard, but couldn’t make it through Hold the Dark, so this feels like a pass.
Is this a reimagining of Hamlet? Nothing wrong with that. I’m just curious. I would love to see more new faces in these big-budget films. It feels like the same people play every role now.
No, it’s based on the legend of Amleth, which Shakespeare stole(ish) for Hamlet (so lazy he literally just changed the letters around)
Also confused about “new faces” since none of these people (except Nicole Kidman? Maybe Dafoe who has a very small role?) are in many big-budget films.
@Soni – I knew that about Hamlet, but couldn’t remember the name of the original one. Stolen or not, Shakespeare’s prose is genius and definitely a worthy addition to the story cycle. As for “new faces”… since these big budget films are often heavy on fight sequences and only have two hours, there’s less time for character development. I prefer less famous actors in those cases.
Does Nicole Kidman have another “new face” for this film? I hope so as her face in the last several things I’ve seen has been plastified/frozen.
@Ann-Pearl so sick of Kidman’s strange face. I saw a clip of her as Lucy and her face scared me. I’ve had enough.
Where is Bjork in this trailer???? I couldn’t see her!!
This seems like a movie version of a few episodes of the later seasons of Vikings.
Agree
agree and honestly i was really into Vikings until the later seasons/episodes. i just couldn’t get into them the show really turned into a slog. if this is unto that, then yea
Exactly. “Last Kingdom” is awesome; have you seen it? The first episode was so violent I almost quit, but am SO glad I didn’t.!
first I’ve heard of this project was when the trailer came out, tbh. A few reactions:
The tv show Vikings quickly went to shit after the first couple seasons, but I guess it did successfully ruin me forever on buying any delicately structured actresses like Anya realistically looking like Viking women. Go Lagertha or go home.
Second the other commentators who recognize “Viking Alexander Skarsgard’s whole family is slaughtered in traumatic fashion, and he vows to exact bloody vengeance on the perpetrator” is Eric Northman all over again, lol.
Ethan Hawke does indeed look incredible. I don’t buy Nicole Kidman at all as a Viking queen. She looks way too modern, but honestly my first reaction was how crazy it felt to know that she’s Alex’s character’s mother in this when I mainly still associate the pair of them together in their Big Little Lies roles.
Anya’s character is Slavic, not a viking.
Lagertha is the best!
@Plums. Agree about Nicole looking too modern, and I felt the same when she played both Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson’s mother in Aqua Man, which was one of the stupidest movie ever. Dafoe was also in Aqua Man. It seems both actors are taking any & every role that is offered to them lately….maybe preparing for retirement. 🙂
They had me until Nicole Kidman.
Over the last few years, I just can’t watch her anymore. She oversaturates the film world. Girl, take a nap, do a crossword. You don’t have to be in everything.
She make me want to actively avoid any film she’s in now. And I do.
Maybe it’s how they cut the trailer but it just seems boring to me.
Yeah, I thought the same. Man sees father killed. Man vows to avenge father. Um, let me guess, man avenges father, the End?
The thing that I most loved about Game of Thrones (the earlier seasons especially) is that you had NO idea what was coming. The twists and turns and intrigues had you gripped. In this film I can’t see what the sticky bit will be. Sure, Alex S is going to go through some stuff on the way to avenging his father but we can all see where this is going and I therefore can’t see the point of spending time watching it unless reports start coming out that there’s a HUGE plot twist.
Just. Yawn.
very good point Hench. there were multiple times i saw a GOT episode and was like “alright, i hate this” but most of the time it was “OMG i hate this and that’s why i’m so into this show! how could they do that! what! WHEN IS THE NEXT EPISODE COMING–”
also, it was actually a show that could function with a very large cast of characters, and everybody had their favorites, and most of those characters actually had exciting and shocking twists in their plotlines and actually *got* (no pun intended) character development in those plotlines as the show prgoressed. it wasn’t always executed well (the last 2 seasons never happened. it was cancelled. this is my head canon), but it still had it’s intended effect: keep people coming back for more.
Yikes, this is the problem with modern audiences. Always looking for some big twist or crap. This is one of the oldest stories in the world. There’s a reason Hamlet/Amleth have been adapted in so many ways throughout history.
*prepares soapbox, clambers on*
I’m just looking for the narrative to be rich enough to be interesting. Time after time with many modern films they just feel so thin in the storytelling. They get bogged down in the CGI special effects or fight scenes and forget the story is all. This trailer did not suggest (to me) that the journey to vengeance is a rich and varied one that will have us gripped in the way that say, LOTR told the story of a journey. And I’m going to go out on a limb here and say my money is on it not being able to hold a candle to Hamlet either. Even Back to the Future managed to make the adventure to return to the present twisty enough that you didn’t know what was coming next even if you knew that Marty would definitely make it back.
So, unless the reports on it say differently, I’m giving this a pass. Very happy to be wrong since I’m a fan of both historical fantasy drama and ASkars but not holding my breath.
Soni, i love Shakespeare. but I can’t make the argument that every single adaptation of Shakespeare has ever been *good* or done the source material justice.
i read (and reread) plenty of books where I know exactly what’s going to happen, or it seems very obvious. there’s some shows and books i’ve read/watched dozens of times. but that means the book or show has to have other qualities that are good enough *in and of themselves* in how much they speak to you, good enough to just really enjoy it for what it is moment to moment, for that to be justified.
i mentioned in another comment i’ve been watching Wheel of Time. i haven’t read all of the first book (it was a bad slog) so i didn’t have a clear idea of what was going to happen. so far, i’ve accurately predicted every single story beat and character/plot “twist” the show has thrown at me– but that’s okay, i don’t care! it actually has other qualities going for it that mean it doesn’t need those GoT style twists.
it’s not the story: it’s how you tell it.
heh, there’s two of us up on soapboxes right now.
I don’t mind knowing how a story is going to end if the story itself is well told. I can still get tense knowing there will be a “happy ending,” lol. Not that I mind plot twists either, but frankly I would have been happier with GoT if it had ended like the traditional bildungsroman it sometimes seemed to be, at least in terms of Jon Snow’s character. He was my favorite in the books and on the show, and I hated how they wrote him in the final season. Which definitely didn’t happen.
Yeah… kind of sick of big age gaps between love interests
Alex, Robert Eggers, Anya, Willem DeFoe, and Björk??? Oh, I am SO in! They had me at Viking-Alex in a Viking epic and a Valkyrie with carved teeth. Please. Take all my money!!!
Miscast: Anya Taylor-Joy and Nichole Kidman.
Moving _The Last Viking_ up in my queue. Thanks to those who commented. _The Vikings_ writing went downhill when the focus turnied to Ivar. Sorry, Michael Hirst, but it’s true.
I’m down for anything Skarsgård.
I was meh until the nekkid Skarsgaard pic. It looks less rapey than GoT, so I am definitely interested.
Eggers clearly decided not to update the Viking mythology of a “cleaver-through-every-skull.” Recent updates to those stereotypes reveal that while violent, Vikings were remarkably gender agnostic (women owned property, held titles, were respected warriors, had inheritance rights), and were tolerant of gender fluidity and gay and lesbian rights. Not saying they were warm and fuzzy, but they were much more enlightened society than this trailer suggests. I’m of Scandinavian descent, so this stuff gets taught early and is discussed often. Guessing my family will all see it and then we’ll be discussing it for oh, say, the next 10 years 😆
can i have a source on the “were tolerant to gay and lesbian rights” thing? (im LGBTQ)
asking because i was watching old episodes of QI the other day and the meaning of the word “rassragr” came up, to which Stephen Fry repeatedly told the panel “I can’t tell you!”
well i googled it, now i know why.
(the preamble to the question on the program was something like “this word was so offensive that if another Viking called another Viking by this, the man would have a right to kill him, and if he didn’t would be shunned and exiled from the village”)
Sorry for delayed response, I’ve been reading Children of Ash & Elm (Neil Price) which debunks some of the mythology of the Viking stereotypes, including those I cited. I hope this helps. Haven’t come across rassragr yet, but will , of course, correct myself as necessary. Peace, and all goodness to you.
Looks like fun to me. I went to the theater for West Side Story, masked. The entire place was nearly empty, not just our auditorium but the whole multi-plex, so I felt OK about it. Maybe I’ll go for this too.
I liked The Last Kingdom a lot, though his accent made me laugh sometimes. Viking stuff is generally enjoyable to me. I don’t watch the show Vikings but I did watch that and Thirteenth Warrior.
I am also tired of Nicole Kidman.
The Last Kingdom was pretty epic. I enjoyed it a LOT. Though I don’t know if it falls center into “Viking shit”– yes there are Vikings in it, and they are somewhat central to the plotline of the protagonist IIRC (it was a while ago. i need to rewatch) but i feel like it’s a series much more focused on what we now call “England” in that time.
Waiting for Russell Edgington and his Wolves to turn up.
This is not going to happen, right? *sighs*
i love “viking shit” as you put it so i guess i’ll give this a watch? my hangup is…Askars is one of those guys who “grimes up good”. he’s peak grime here and i’d be here for it, but i’ve just NEVER been able to find him attractive. i know, i’m being shallow, this is CB. i have the same gripe with Henry Cavill in the Witcher…i love the Witcher games…plan to read the books sometime…Cavill grimes up good.
still not attracted to him.
by the way, i’m not just talking about straight up sexual attraction. i also mean the magnetic force that makes you attracted to the person underneath all that grime from their mannerism, the hints of their personality behind the character, etc. they’re just…not my vibe.
i know i’m gonna be in the minority here but hey, i’ll watch this anyway. i always go in hoping i’ll come out with a different opinion.
edit: nevermind, Anya, Nicole, Bjork AND Ethan Hawke? what is this casting?!
I found Cavill very hot in The Tudors but not so much later. He looks a little too much like he’s made out of rock. I’m not attracted to his Witcher character but I do find him very magnetic, just not sexually. One of the things I like about that show is there isn’t a ton of sex in it. I’m not prudish about that. I didn’t mind all the sex in GoT, but taking a break from it is nice too.
ooh, i need to watch the Tudors. i’m here for anything historical (no matter how fictionalized, and sometimes fictionalized makes for better shows)
i DO think Cavill is very good at playing his character in the Witcher. he is a good actor. i can’t say i don’t casually enjoy him in that way. it’s just…i think about how i would cast Geralt in my mind, and i just get this feeling that somewhere out there, there was an actor far more suited to the role, who would probably never have been considered for the role because they’re not Henry Cavill or anywhere near him in terms of big name appeal. the showmakers know people love to swoon over Cavill, they cast Cavill.
agree with you about the “made out of rocks” bit. did you see that insane interview where he talked about fasting with no water for 1.5 days before a bath scene, just to get the maximum “physique definition”? i don’t know how to put it but that…interview really said a lot about this show and the mindset behind it to me.
also agree with you about GoT. i’m far from being prudish also. but if there’s one thing i do find refreshing, it’s a lack of gratuitous sex/rape scenes. it’s one reason why i’m enjoying the WoT series right now, come to think of it.
oooh Cavill is SO hot in the Tudors. Watch it for him alone, lol.
Cavill was very hot in the Tudors, but ever since he bulked up for superman, he has always looked uncomfortable in his own body to me.
I’ve always found both actors to be bland and boring, and I’m not talking about how they look either. I know they are considered good looking, sexy men but neither man has that “it” factor, which is hard to define. Maybe it’s their bland personality, they can look good, grimey or not but they don’t seem to have anything overall that makes them stand out. I’d take someone like a Paul Rudd or Adam Scott over either ASkars or especially Cavill.
I’m of the same mind about AS- I mean, really tall & great physique, but his eyes are too closely set for him to be facially appealing.
I’ll probably watch it on streaming or on a plane where I tend to like watching mindless action/adventure movies. Would it have killed them to include more Scandinavian actors in a movie about Vikings? They’ve got Bjork and Alexander Skarsgard, they could have included Malin Akerman, Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister from GOT) etc, there’s way more of course but those are the ones off the top of my head. Nicole Kidman as a Viking Queen and Ethan Hawke as a Viking King… I dunno.
I’m a big fan of Viking epics, and I want to see this (although Kidman looks jarringly out of place: puhleeze!!). But no way am I going into a movie theater. I’ll have to wait til it streams somewhere. BTW, if you like Viking stories, you MUST watch The Last Kingdom!!
My husband & I love, love LOVE The Vvitch & The Lighthouse, so we’re definitively going to have to l to watch this. If it’s anything like Eggers previous movies, it’ll be interesting & thought-provoking. His movies productions are amazing.
I’m also a fan of Robert Eggers and Anya Taylor-Joy, I liked both The Wvitch and Lighthouse too! Robert Pattinson & Willem Dafoe were exceptional and acted their asses off. But, I might be disappointed in this adaption for Eggers.
I’m a fan of Robert Eggers, Anya Taylor-Joy, AND viking lore, so I’m all-in on this.
Same, but man, I am unhappy to see NK here. I don’t like her at all anymore.
This looks like a bit of fun. I will definitely watch it because I find this period of history interesting; I loved The Last Kingdom and I’m quite keen on Vikings too. I’m a huge fan of Alex Skarsgard and I loved his Eric Northman. This new character of his looks a lot like a mix of Viking!Eric and Tarzan, and I’m sure I’ll be giggling at times, probably times I shouldn’t be giggling. I like Anya and will be interested to see her, but I think they could have left Nicole out of it; she doesn’t have to be in everything. Oh, and I really hope that Allan Hyde has a part in this movie because I will be keeping an eye out for Godric 😀
This looks like a bit of fun. I will definitely watch it because I find this period of history interesting; I loved The Last Kingdom and I’m quite keen on Vikings too. I’m a huge fan of Alex Skarsgard and I loved his Eric Northman. This new character of his looks a lot like a mix of Viking!Eric and Tarzan, and I’m sure I’ll be giggling at times, probably times I shouldn’t be giggling. The rest of the cast looks good too. I like Anya a lot and will be interested to see her, but I think they could have left Nicole out of it; she doesn’t have to be in everything. Oh, and I really hope that Allan Hyde has a part in this movie because I will be keeping an eye out for Godric 😀
HUGE fan of Robert Eggers here so…yeah, totally watching this.
I’m not a big Viking fan, and this looks violent, but I will watch Alex in anything.
A film version of the legend that Shakespeare ripped off to write Hamlet? I am here for it!
Did you see “VIKINGS”, with Travis Fimmel? I always wondered why you never covered it. It was prretty succesful, at least in Europe, and I wonder if it was as popular in the USA.
Travis NAILED IT as Ragnar Lodbrok and Gustav Skarsgard (Alexander´s brother) did a pretty amazing job too as “Floki”. Maybe Alexander got jealous and wanted to play a great viking too? 😉