What's new about the 'Vikings' spinoff 'Valhalla' on Netflix

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“Vikings: Valhalla,” a spinoff of the History Channel hit “Vikings,” is an epic and sprawling affair – and it’s smart enough to start small, with two connected tales of good old-fashioned revenge. 

Premiering Friday, Feb. 25, on Netflix and set in the 11th century — roughly 100 years after the events of “Vikings” (which ran from 2013-2020) — “Valhalla” is a historical drama following three main characters. There’s legendary explorer Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”) before he became famous; his fierce sister, Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsso); and Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter, “Sanditon”), an ambitious rising leader and future king of Norway.

The series opens with the St. Brice’s Day massacre, a real historical event in which Vikings living in England in 1002 were murdered by order of the king. After that bloody night, the show moves on to follow Vikings from all over as they assemble in the familiar location of Kattegat (Ragnar’s stomping grounds in the original show) to plot revenge against the English — which is how Leif and Freydis, who sail in from Greenland, cross paths with Harald. 

As the avengers assemble, Viking-style, drama brews among their ranks: some of them are Pagans while some are Christian, and both groups chafe at the prospect of working together, even as Harald seeks to unite them. Meanwhile, Freydis and Leif reveal that their vengeance has a more personal nature: years ago, Freydis was attacked and raped, and she and her brother are hunting for the culprit at this large gathering of their people. 

It’s an impressively small-scale way to begin a show with lots of moving pieces and battles. Too often, shows in this genre give in to the temptation to start large, throwing too much at the viewer at once. Every would-be epic wants to be the next “Game of Thrones,” but they mistakenly jump straight to that show’s bombastic action setpieces  – and they forget that “Game of Thrones” began by making the audience care about one family, the Starks. 

“Vikings: Valhalla” follows the effective “start small” rule, and astutely realizes that the best way to tell this story is to anchor it in a tale of personal vengeance and family love between Leif and his sister. (It’s also refreshing that in the rape revenge subplot, the rape is not shown onscreen — but the revenge is).

It isn’t necessary for a viewer to have seen “Vikings” to understand what’s going on in “Valhalla,” though knowing the backstory enriches it; in addition to the location of Kattegat, Ragnar (original series star Travis Fimmel) and Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig) are both name-dropped.

This show’s characters are also more straightforward than “Vikings,” and less charmingly eccentric. None of them have the unpredictable energy with which Ragnar crackled, or the oddball Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard). But as a tradeoff, the story of “Valhalla” is more coherent (the “Vikings” narrative often got lost). This is likely due to a regime-change: original series creator Michael Hirst is still onboard as an executive producer, but “Valhalla” gets an infusion of new creative blood from Jeb Stuart (“The Fugitive”).

The show’s main drawback, funny enough, is the two male leads’ appearances. While Suter and Corlett are both fine actors, Harald and Leif look almost indistinguishable at first, especially when spattered with dirt and blood. It’s difficult to keep track of who is who, and that extra layer of confusion isn’t necessary. At least on “Vikings,” Ragnar and Rollo (Clive Standen) had different hair colors and physiques.

If you’re hungry for a swords-and-shields period piece with battles, high stakes and revenge — anchored in some relatable humanity — you could do a lot worse than “Vikings: Valhalla.” 

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