How exciting for fans that Michael Hirst, the mastermind of some of the most successful period film and TV dramas — including Vikings, the History Channel’s first scripted series and smash hit — made his very first Comic-Con appearance! After flying all day to get to San Diego, Hirst, while sipping on a glass of wine, dished about why he thinks the show has resonated so well in America and how he goes about creating drama for the series.
How exciting for fans that Michael Hirst, the mastermind of some of the most successful period film and TV dramas — including Vikings, the History Channel’s first scripted series and smash hit — made his very first Comic-Con appearance! After flying all day to get to San Diego, Hirst, while sipping on a glass of wine, dished about why he thinks the show has resonated so well in America and how he goes about creating drama for the series.
The Vikings cast were both excited and surprised at the popularity of the show.
A common theme stemming from the Vikings’ cast Comic-Con interviews, which included Travis Fimmel (Ragnar), Clive Standen (Rollo), and Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha), to name a few, is their collective amazement at the popularity of the show, particularly since they film in a “bubble” in Ireland – their words, not mine, to reference the remote locations where they film in Ireland. Although no stranger to success, Hirst’s excitement at how his show has been received was evident and he was especially moved by the fan support during the Vikings panel. “The audience…the love coming out of that room, it was great,” he gushed. “It’s been a great experience.”
Traditionally, period or costume dramas haven’t been largely popular in the US and Hirst shared his theory of why Vikings has succeeded in attracting a following:
“Personally, and it’s just a personal opinion, I don’t like fantasy because I don’t connect to it but we know there were Vikings. They may dress differently but they’re like us,” Hirst stated. “The Vikings came to North America hundreds of years before Columbus. It’s real stuff; we’re connected to these people. They’re part of our collective history so we’re reaching out to people and saying this is part of your heritage and of course, it’s exciting if you describe it like that.”
It’s obvious that by grounding the series on a historical foundation, Hirst also makes Vikings relatable on a personal level.
Although the show is based on the research Hirst has done, he admits to “making choices and selecting things; taking what I need and want out of it so it’s not a documentary.” And in terms of the creative process, Hirst shared his method for connecting to the characters. “I created this world and the way into the world is through the characters but I’ve done a huge amount of research, obviously. When I’m in my little study, I can almost shut everything else off. I’m just with these people and I love being with them. They really speak to me.”
Hirst hopes the series will lead people to read books about the Vikings and do their own research on this fascinating period in history.
Hirst also allows the characters to surprise him: “I turn to these guys. ‘Show me something today: where we’re going to go, what are we going to do.’ It’s like, surprise me! If the characters don’t surprise me, they’re not going to surprise you.”
While he works, Hirst doesn’t need music or anything else to get into the Viking mode while writing as his “heart is absolutely filled with these people.”
After hearing him talk about his love for his characters and the world he’s created inside his little studio, I can’t help but think that room must be a magical world…like Narnia! I really want to go there to see what’s in store for us next season. So, I continued my conversation with Hirst to see if I could get some interesting scoop. Luckily, he didn’t disappoint me.
To those who are upset that Ragnar Lothbrok betrayed Lagertha with Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland), let’s just say things could have been much more complicated! Hirst was under the impression that Ragnar had three wives but a historical consultant friend sent him a biography of the warrior in which he only had two wives. So this was the material Hirst chose to focus on for the series, noting: “I was happy to have two wives in this place for the structure of it; that helped me. I made some decisions [about] what helps me to structure it and give it momentum; what kind of stories I’m trying to tell inside the bigger stories.”
Since each character in the series seems to have fairly defined motivations, I asked Hirst how he goes about balancing what drives them. “I tried to make the motivations plausible based on what I know about the characters but, of course, I’m a dramatist so I operate with conflict. As soon as I had that idea of doing Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons and I knew there were certain conflicts in his history, I mean, he was jealous of his sons and their fame, for example,” he says. From there, Hirst developed the idea that one of the basic themes should be Ragnar’s rivalry with his brother. “So, it comes down to research but then it’s about being a dramatist—where are the conflicts, where do they lead to, can they lead to surprising places?”
Hirst pointed out additional limitations to his drama-concocting, particularly when developing the story arcs and scenes. “Other things come up because the production says you can’t have that battle or you can’t have that scene, so then you’ve got to reinvent. It’s always a question about solving these problems. Some of the problems you set yourself but essentially you’re solving these problems, like…how do I go to a climax? Did you know there are five little climaxes in each episode of this show? Five commercial breaks, that is amazing —to have a cliffhanger five times!”
Based on the answers I heard, it’s safe to expect a fairly dramatic season two for Vikings. If you don’t believe me, see it yourself by watching this Vikings Season 2 sneak peak preview on the show’s official webpage. Things are about to get bloody with family rivalries escalating!
Now, step into the press room with me and check out our cast interviews:
More with Clive Standen and Travis Fimmel
Vikings will return in 2014. Check out the Season 2 Teaser
For more on the show, please visit the show’s official webpage at http://www.history.com/shows/vikings.
Follow on Twitter @HistoryVikings
The Vikings Season 1 will be available on Blu-ray/DVD beginning October 15. The Blu-ray trailer is available at http://youtu.be/i6itoUtILxU.
elleL
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