History Renews ‘Vikings’ for Sixth Season

History announced Tuesday that it has ordered a 20-episode sixth season of its drama series Vikings.

The announcement for a sixth season comes as the series -- which tells the lives and adventures of raiders and explorers of the Dark Ages – launches its 20-episode fifth season Nov. 29, according to network officials.

Vikings averaged 4.1 million total viewers in Nielsen Live+7 delivery last season and 7.8 million viewers across all platforms, the network said. 

Vikings has creatively sailed to monumental lengths … the series has evolved from early raids in England, to the heart-stopping death of Ragnar Lothbrok, to the fierce battles of the Great Heathen Army, and now we’ll see the sons of Ragnar exploring and conquering the known world,” said Eli Lehrer, History executive vice president of programming, in a statement. “Michael Hirst has only scratched the surface of his epic saga. We look forward to continuing our partnership with one of the greatest writers in this era of Peak TV and entertaining our viewers with 40 new episodes over the next two seasons.”

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.