You wouldn’t want to work with Katheryn Winnick when she’s dressed for battle.
Winnick plays Lagertha Lothbrok on The History Channel’s “Vikings,” a show that follows the lives of a family of Vikings during medieval times and is based on historical figures. Her character, a wife and mother, is based on a shieldmaiden, a woman who fought in battle alongside men during the eighth century. The show centers around Lagertha’s husband, Ragnar Lothbrok, played by Travis Fimmel, based on the famous Norse leader and his family.
In the upcoming second season, Lagertha’s identity is tested, as she has to deal with a miscarriage.
“Her sense of self is something I struggled with because in the first season she was very much Ragnar’s wife and partner in crime,” said Winnick. “Now where does she go from here? Does she choose to stay with him and forgive him and deal with this new baby on the way? Or does she decide to leave and follow her own path?”
She was cast for the part a week before relocating to Dublin, Ireland, where she lived for six months during filming. For her audition, she recorded herself in her living room. When the the producers wanted to see her two months later, she rented a Viking costume to get the part.
“There’s a stereotype of what Vikings were, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that’s not exactly the reality of it,” Winnick said. “Vikings do not have horns coming out of their helmets at all. It wouldn’t be practical.”
While living in Ireland, Canadian-born Winnick said she made some of the most amazing friends, and she felt like she was back home.
“They’re just very humble, sweet individuals,” Winnick said. “And the culture’s a little different, where at the end of each day, sometimes me and all the cast mates meet at the bar for a pint of Guinness. Everyone lives in UGG boots and winter wear, but I can’t imagine shooting this anywhere else.”
She said some of the crew has worked together for more than 25 years, on movies like “Braveheart” and shows like “The Tudors.”
“There are no egos. There’s no divas on set in any department,” Winnick said. “Everyone truly wants to be there and do good work and produce a good product.”
Winnick does all of her own stunts on the show and used to teach martial arts to actors on movie sets. She is a third degree black belt in Taekwondo, a second degree black belt in karate, and a licensed bodyguard. The training for this role was a bit different.
“I had the physical training of it, but picking up the sword and a shield was pretty new to me,” Winnick said.
Winnick, who was in the movies “Love & Other Drugs” and “Failure to Launch,” along with the show “Bones,” prefers being in shows rather than films. In “Vickings,” she co-stars with lambs and goats, and gets to work with the creator and writer of the show Michael Hirst, who writes every episode. She likes not knowing how her character will develop.
“That’s the beauty of television; you can discover more layers of your character as the season goes on, whereas on a movie, you have a beginning, middle and end and one journey that you tell and one story,” Winnick said.
Because the cast sometimes shoots scenes in remote locations in the mountains and deals with the unpredictable weather, the cast is very close.
“A lot of times. we’re stuck in these heating tents with one heater and all the cast come together and we have no cell phone reception or Internet, and we sit there and we just have to tell stories or play games and entertain ourselves and really get to know each other,” she said. “That’s what makes this show also really special. All of the cast mates really establish a strong bond with each other; we’re like family over there.”
Season two of “Vikings” airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on The
History Channel.
