Talks about King Ragnar Lothbrok's death in the fourth season of History Channel's "Vikings" have been going around since the end of season 3, but new reports claim that Travis Fimmel, the actor who portrays the role of the King of Denmark, is confirmed to be leaving the show by the end of the upcoming season.
Vine Report recently revealed that Fimmel will soon have to leave the set of the historical action drama to work on the big movie adaptation of the popular video game series "Warcraft," which is set to be released on June 10, 2016.
While there are no statements yet from the actor and the network, the previous statements from Fimmel and series showrunner Michael Hirst shared by the Hollywood Reporter after this year's San Diego Comic Con could be an indication that Ragnar might really die next season.
According to the series showrunner, he has always seen the show even without Ragnar on it. "I thought it was very important when I started thinking about this whole thing that Ragnar had many sons and some of his sons became more famous than he was. So I can perfectly well envision a world without Ragnar and further adventures for the sons. Absolutely. That's something I really, really want to do," Hirst stated.
Fimmel, on the other hand, claimed that more characters will be introduced in the coming season, while some of the existing characters will be given their own plots in the story. Since Ragnar has lots of sons with his two wives, one of them can take his place if his death becomes imminent in "Vikings" season 4.
Meanwhile, Clive Standen, the actor who portrays the role of Ragnar's treacherous brother Rollo in the series, also talked about what's in store for the Norsemen in the series during an interview with The Au Review after the Oz Comic Fest.
According to the actor, the upcoming season will be composed of 20 episodes to unveil the highlights of the Golden Age of the Vikings. "We need 20 episodes to get the story told," the actor said.
"Vikings" season 4 is expected to air sometime in 2016.
