“Vikings” has been in a strange state lately, as the show has been rumored to be coming up with the departure of a major character, King Ragnar. This is not yet confirmed, but according to rumors Travis Fimmel, who plays the role of the King, wants to concentrate on other aspects of his life right now and he has decided to take a break from “Vikings”. The actor has other roles besides the one on “Vikings” so it makes sense that he may want to focus on them for a while, although it would certainly be a bad development for the show’s fans as many of them are already attached to King Ragnar quite a bit.
It’s also not clear how the character will be written off from the show if the rumors turn out to be true. There are many different possibilities for how the writers might want to handle this, and he doesn’t necessarily have to be killed off. Some fans have been speculating that the writers are just going to “put him on pause” only to bring him back after some time has passed.
That could make sense in light of the general rumors, as it would allow Travis Fimmel to explore his other roles as he intended to on one hand, while it will also allow the show’s producers to focus on other aspects of its plot instead of talking about King Ragnar all the time. It’s going to be interesting to see how the show’s plot might be handled if the King does end up departing – even if it’s temporary – and we expect that there will be more focus on certain other characters and plot developments.
In addition, it’s also not clear if the actor is actually going to leave the production before or after season 4 is over – according to most rumors, he’s going to stick around until the end of the season, but it’s also possible that we may see him written out at an earlier point. In any case, if he does get killed, that would have some pretty dark implications for the future of the story and the writers may find it difficult to continue in a way that leaves fans satisfied.
That’s particularly true if the departure of the character is due to a request from Travis Fimmel himself, and not because it was planned to take him out of the story for a while. If the actor announced his desire to take a break and this came as a surprise to the producers, it could spell disaster for the show as the writers will have to adapt to this new development and they may not necessarily be able to come up with a continuation of the story that pleases everyone. If it was a more minor character, sure, but with King Ragnar, it’s a completely different game and will require a more careful approach.
In any case, there is still time until season 4 of “Vikings” premieres, and we will likely find out more about the upcoming developments in the next months. It’s entirely possible that Ragnar is not going anywhere and that the rumors were false, but at this point this is starting to seem less and less likely, as the rumors about his departure have been coming in from all sides. In some cases there are some changed details in the rumor but it sounds more or less the same in all cases.