Viking films and series worth watching

Recently, a reader wrote to us asking for recommendations for Viking films and shows, and it got me thinking. When you spend your days writing about the Viking age, you watch this stuff with one eye on the story and one eye on the details — and some of it holds up better than you’d expect.

The Last Kingdom

I mentioned The Last Kingdom movie to the reader, though I have to admit I think the TV series is stronger overall. Based on Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories, it follows Uhtred of Bebbanburg through the Danish invasions of England, and it gets a lot right: the politics, the divided loyalties, the sense that the Viking age was as much about oaths and land as about battles.

The Northman

I know The Northman has a lot of fans, but personally it didn’t quite land for me, even if it looks stunning. The attention to historical and mythological detail is genuinely impressive — the rituals, the material culture, the sheer strangeness of the Norse worldview. If you want to see the Viking age, it delivers. The story just didn’t grip me the way I wanted it to.

Arn: The Knight Templar

One of my own favourites is actually Arn: The Knight Templar. It’s not a Viking story in the narrow sense — it’s a Swedish production about a 12th-century knight, based on Jan Guillou’s novels. But it captures the Norse world, the politics, and the mindset really well: the power of family alliances, the collision of old ways and new faith, the long shadow of honour.

That said — as usual, the books are better.

Your turn

Do you have a Viking (or Viking-adjacent) film or series you’d recommend? If you’re on our newsletter, just hit reply and let me know. I always enjoy these tips, and I know other readers do too. And if you’re not on the newsletter yet, The Silver Goblet is the free story that gets you aboard.

And of course — if the screen leaves you wanting more of the real thing, the sagas we write start with Viking. No horned helmets, we promise.