The last season of Vikings left things off in the usual places. Once again, Ragnar Lothbrok faced daunting odds only to turn the tables and triumph over his overconfident adversaries while his family and countrymen oscillated between varying degrees of duplicitousness. King Ecbert continued to scheme down in Wessex, while the French hid inside their booby-trapped Romanesque battlements. But no matter what the prophecies, triple-crosses, barbaric yawps, and hardened scowls might suggest, History (Channel) teaches us that it’s a mistake to bet against Ragnar Lothbrok.
The latest trailer for season four of Vikings looks to be offering more of the same, not moving the deck chairs around so much as rotating them slightly. Ragnar continues his bloodthirsty reign of inscrutable glares. Rollo and Lagertha, Ragnar’s respective brother and ex-wife, are still weighing loyalty against their own fortunes. Alexander Ludwig seems even more pumped up as Ragnar and Lagertha’s son Bjorn. And yes, Ecbert is still twirling his moustache in the wings, while Charlemagne’s grandson remains cowering in Paris.
Of course, none of that really matters once the bloodlust kicks in. The important thing is that the northmen are still burying their axe-heads into the brigandines of their foes. Will King Lothbrok continue to run roughshod over England and France, or will the fates finally catch up the the self-proclaimed heir of Odin? We’ll find out when Vikings’ fleet of longships emerges from the foggy gloom on February 18.