3 December, 2018 - 06:03
The second half of Vikings season five is now streaming first and only on Showmax, with new episodes coming weekly every Thursday, express from the US. Here are six reasons you should be watching HISTORYs breakthrough drama.
Youll rethink everything you know about vikings
As Africans, we should know better than to trust histories written by the victors. As Jordan Patrick Smith, who plays Ubbe, says, When you look up all the history of vikings, its all written from an English perspective, so it makes the vikings look like a bunch of bearded lunatics who killed and raped everybody, but there was a lot more to them than that. In fact, Vikings creator Michael Hirst (The Tudors, Elizabeth) says that their attitude toward women was much more enlightened than societies around them - England, France, Spain - and they were more democratic than most other societies. Its not often that you can watch something this entertaining - and say youre learning something at the same time...
Its widely acclaimed as one of the best shows on TV
Vikings has eleven Emmy nominations, a 93% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and an 8.6 rating on IMDB, where its listed as one of the Top Rated TV shows of all time. Huffington Post praised it as one of the most visually striking shows on TV; Salon wrote that its contemplative view and portrayal of religion is unique among television series; and The Guardian compared it favourably to Game of Thrones, describing it as altogether more streamlined and as good, if not better, at a lot of the elements familiar to fans of George RR Martins epic. As the Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus for season four puts it, this is a show full of fantastic performances, epic battles, and sharp writing sure to please its barbarous hordes of fans.
Lagertha is the most exciting feminist character on TV
Katheryn Winnick plays Lagertha, a fierce shield-maiden who fights alongside the men and rises to become Earl Ingstad and, by the start of season five, Queen of Kattegat. Shes an independent woman who has no patience for the patriarchy, but shes also a caring mother with a touching relationship with her son Bjorn. As Entertainment Weekly wrote, she may be the most exciting feminist character on TV. Its not an act for Winnick either: in real life shes a former bodyguard with black belts in both Taekwondo and Karate and has founded three martial arts schools.
The fight scenes are epic
We do battles very well, better than other shows, says Hirst - not very modest but entirely true. As Inverse says, Vikings has hands-down the best battle scenes of any network TV shows. The good news is that season five has some of the most epic fight sequences yet, up there with the siege of Paris, as civil war looms...
Now starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
There are many pleasures, some admittedly base, to be taken from Vikings, wrote Entertainment Weekly, just before calling the show a visual feast of sweaty men with the physiques of CrossFit coaches. Sadly, Ragnar Lothbrok, played by former Calvin Klein underwear model Travis Fimmel, is [spoiler alert] no more, but season five has no shortage of heart-throbs, including Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (The Tudors), who has a Golden Globe and multiple sexiest man alive titles to his name. Rhys-Meyers joins the cast as Bishop Heahmund, a warrior bishop.
Season five is a good place to start
If youve never watched Vikings, we recommend you start at the very beginning on Showmax, but season five sees the show shift focus from Ragnar to his sons, so it also works as a place to start fresh.
Get More Film Business South Africa
Select your Membership
I always said from the beginning that the show was not just about Ragnar, but about Ragnar and his sons, says Hirst. In fact, in many ways his sons became more famous than Ragnar. Bjorn did actually go to the Mediterranean and Tunisia and Ivar the Boneless was a very famous viking. I seem to have waited a lifetime to get Ivar the Boneless into the script - who knew the most important viking leader was a cripple, considering what the assumptions are about vikings? Ivar was one of the cruellest and most successful vikings and we are very lucky to have Alex Hogh Andersen playing him - he is brilliant.
Watch and embed the S5 trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy3R_oMn0-E
Watch and embed the S5B trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ZaBH4EOPc
Watch all Vikings seasons on Showmax here.
About Showmax
Showmax is an internet TV service. For a single monthly fee, get all-you-can-eat access to a huge online catalogue of TV shows, movies, kids shows and documentaries. Start and stop when you want. No ads. Cancel anytime - theres no contract.
Stream Showmax using apps for smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, computers and media players. Showmax also works with Chromecast and AirPlay. Manage data consumption using the bandwidth capping feature. No internet? No problem - download up to 25 shows to smartphones and tablets to watch later offline.
Showmax was born in 2015 and is currently available in more than 70 countries. For a free, no-risk trial, visit www.showmax.com.
Embedded video for Six reasons you should be watching 'Vikings'
Television
Africa South Africa
Most recent headlines
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
3 December, 2018 - 06:03 
