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It’s been quite a season for Travis Fimmel on History‘s breakout hit Vikings.
His character, Ragnar Lothbrok, has gone from Viking farmer to defeating the local earl and becoming the new leader of his clan.
STORY: History Renews ‘Vikings’ for Second Season
The 33-year-old Australian actor recently visited The Hollywood Reporter’s video lounge to talk about season one of the show and what viewers can expect from the future.
In last week’s episode, Ragnar finally took down Earl Haraldson (Gabriel Byrne) in a brutal battle, which led to Ragnar taking over as the head of the group.
“I was actually upset that I fought the earl. He’s such a great actor, Gabriel Byrne. I didn’t want to kill him. I loved him on the show, and he was amazing to work with,” Fimmel tells THR.
Fimmel reveals that the fight scene was at first shot with wood swords, but they kept breaking, so they switched to steel swords.
“Gabriel was amazing, but it scares you on your fingers when you hear the ting,” says Fimmel.
On Sunday’s episode, Ragnar took his group back to England, where they challenged King Aelle of Northumbria (Ivan Kaye) by capturing his brother.
An especially entertaining scene puts Ragnar and his friends across the table from the British people, where their major cultural differences are on full display.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: History’s ‘Vikings’: Gabriel Byrne and Travis Fimmel Go Head to Head
“We don’t have very many manners,” says Fimmel of his Viking clan. “We were all pretty full by the end. We had to eat like animals. I didn’t eat dinner that night for sure.”
Toward the end of the episode, there’s a muddy fight on a hillside that Fimmel says was one of his favorite scenes to shoot.
“We’re all just little kids running around there, falling over,” he says, adding that he’s a “farm boy” who loves those scenes the most.
Fimmel also teased the tension that is on the horizon in the next episode. At the end of Sunday’s episode, we found out that Ragnar’s wife, Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), has had a miscarriage.
“Ragnar is very upset when he finds out about his child dying,” he says. “It’s a boy, he believes, and he wants his legacy, he wants to have a lot of boys. It really affects him when he loses his son.”
Vikings airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. on History.
Email: Rebecca.Ford@thr.com; Twitter: @Beccamford
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