‘Vikings’: Michael Hirst Thinks Floki Has ‘Found Peace’
The final episodes of Vikings premiered on Amazon Prime Video on December 30, and it tied up a number of loose ends. Fans have been wondering about the whereabouts of Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård) since season 5B when he was last seen. Did he return to the series for season 6B?
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from ‘Vikings’]
Does Floki return for season 6B of ‘Vikings’?
The famous boat builder Floki was best friends with Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) for decades in the hit series. Fans last saw him entering a cave inside a volcano in Iceland after a terrible turn of events with the settlers killing one another. When the settlement fails, Floki walks away from it all. But while inside a cave, the volcano erupts, causing it to crumble around him right after he spots a cross sculpture and begins laughing and crying. We had no idea if we’d ever see Floki again after that, but he does reappear again in the final episodes of Vikings.
One of the sons of Ragnar, Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith) went looking for Floki in Iceland with his wife, Torvi (Georgia Hirst). But along the way, Ubbe becomes obsessed with finding the Golden Land, which is really Newfoundland. Although they suffer many trials and discover Greenland before it’s all over, Ubbe eventually finds the Golden Land, and soon realizes Floki has landed on its shores as well.
When they notice the local Native American tribe’s leader, Pekitaulet (Carmen Moore), can speak their language, they’re led to Floki’s home. It turns out he left Iceland after finding a boat, and he arrived to the shores of the Golden Land weak. The Native Americans helped heal him, and they’ve remained on good terms ever since.
Fans will realize right away that Floki is completely different now. He’s calmer and more thoughtful than just spewing anything out of his mouth that comes to mind. He’s changed over the years in his life of solitude, and he’s also not as religious as he once was.
Michael Hirst thinks Floki has ‘found peace’
Entertainment Weekly recently talked with the creator of the series, Michael Hirst, about the final episodes. Of course, Floki gets brought up during the interview as well. Fans are grateful for Floki being back, considering he is such a beloved character. It wouldn’t have felt right for him to die the way we last saw him considering how meaningful he is to the series. Hirst says he “knew” that Floki would “turn up in the New World.”
“He was too important of a character to just leave him at the bottom of a volcano,” Hirst said. “He’s like the soul of the show, in some way. I had to finish his story off in a satisfying way.”
Hirst also believes that Floki has finally “found peace,” and that’s something fans can get behind. Floki was never the same after his wife, Helga (Maude Hirst), died unexpectedly, so it’s nice to see this change in him, especially after everything that happened in Iceland. He’s clearly a different person now than his days as a fierce Viking fighter. “I think he has found peace,” Hirst says.
“He knows he’s dying, I think,” he explained. “But he’s not so troubled. He’s been a troubled soul for so many years. He pinned so many hopes on setting up a godly society in Iceland, and it just didn’t work. it stressed him out, it devastated him. He is quite a broken man, finally. But, there is a gentleness to him, certainly, an acceptance, a mildness. I wouldn’t mind going like that myself.”
Vikings may be over, but the series ended on a high note. Floki and Ubbe sit on the shore of the beach staring out at the waves, and it’s a positive ending to Floki’s story and Vikings as a whole.
