Arthur McBain Boards Prime Video's Viking Saga 'Bloodaxe' as Sigrod
Here's one for folks tracking casting moves on big historical dramas. Arthur McBain (movies and tv series) - fresh off Interview with the Vampire - has joined Bloodaxe at Prime Video as Sigrod, brother to Erik Bloodaxe.
That brother detail matters. It hints at family politics becoming a real driver of the plot, not just raids and wars. And with Xavier Molyneux (movies and tv series) set as Erik and Jessica Madsen (movies and tv series) as Gunnhild, you can see the core triangle forming.
What Bloodaxe Is Building
Created and showrun by Michael Hirst (movies and tv series) (yes, the Vikings creator) alongside his son, Horatio Hirst, Bloodaxe follows Erik Bloodaxe and his formidable wife as they battle for Norway's crown. Think shifting loyalties, rivals closing in, and the kind of betrayals that leave a mark.
The series is produced by MGM Television, part of Amazon MGM Studios, with executive producers Michael and Horatio Hirst, Morgan O'Sullivan (movies and tv series) (O'Sullivan Productions), Steve Stark (movies and tv series) (Toluca Pictures), Arturo Interian, John Weber (movies and tv series), Sheila Hockin, and Fred Toye. That's a seasoned bench for a show that needs scale and grit.
The Cast So Far
- Xavier Molyneux as Erik Bloodaxe
- Jessica Madsen as Gunnhild
- Arthur McBain as Sigrod
- Levi Miller (movies and tv series), Karlis Arnolds Avots (movies and tv series), Rod Hallett (movies and tv series), Alina Tomnikov (movies and tv series), Sisse Marie (movies and tv series), Rune Temte (movies and tv series), Jesper Christensen (movies and tv series), Marc Rissmann (movies and tv series), Kai Luke Brümmer
Put simply: it's a sturdy ensemble with range. And the Hirst pedigree suggests the show will lean (movies and tv series) into character as much as clashing steel.
Why McBain Makes Sense
McBain brings recent momentum: Interview with the Vampire (Season 2), ITV's After the Flood, Film4/BFI's Surviving Earth, ABC Australia's Friday on My Mind, and ITV's The Trouble with Maggie Cole (movies and tv series) opposite Dawn French (movies and tv series). Up next, he's starring alongside David Dawson (movies and tv series) in the dystopian feature The Flaw.
He's repped by The Artist Partnership and Untitled. Here's what this could mean: a sharper focus on the Bloodaxe family tree - the kind of brother-against-brother tension that fuels big plot swings and gives editors juicy mid-season turns.
The Read for Industry Watchers
Bloodaxe looks like Prime Video's latest push into muscular, character-first historical drama. With the Hirsts steering and MGM Television producing, there's infrastructure in place to deliver scope without losing the human thread. You can almost hear the shield wall thud already.
If you're tracking where this sits, keep an eye on how the show frames regional power players across Scandinavia and England. If those arcs land, you've got a series that can widen its map without losing its heartbeat.
For platform context, see Prime Video. For production background, here's MGM Television.
