In the Vikings Season 6 midseason finale earlier this year, brothers Ivar and Bjorn shared a dream-like sequence on the beach while the battle between their respective armies raged around them. Ivar, who at that point had the upper hand, calmly and cloyingly assured Bjorn that he lost favor with the gods long ago, and that he was destined to lose this war.
The episode then ended with the shock of Ivar’s sword stabbing clean through his brother’s abdomen. Bjorn falls to the ground, possibly dead, as the rest of his army retreats from the Rus around him. While Vikings is no stranger to the season finale cliffhanger, this one in particular left us with a lot of question marks as they relate to our hero Bjorn. Is he dead, or will he live to fight another day?
Is there the possibility that the stabbing was also part of a larger surreal dream sequence? What could possibly be next for our viking hero?
If you’re like us and have been waiting for months to get answers to these questions and more, you’re in luck: The final season premiered in full Dec. 30 on Amazon Prime Video before it’s set to debut in weekly installments at its original home on History. To talk about the big premiere, we jumped on the phone with the actor behind Bjorn himself, Alexander Ludwig, and creator and showrunner Michael Hirst. Warning: If you haven’t yet watched the season 6B premiere, we recommend you stop reading this article, as THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!