Bloodaxe promo photo
Image Source: CultureSlate
Bloodaxe is an upcoming Amazon Prime Video series that tells the story of Viking Erik Bloodaxe. At this year's New York Comic Con, I had the pleasure of interviewing Xavier Molyneux (Erik Bloodaxe), Jessica Madsen (Gunnhild), Levi Miller (Haakon), and showrunners Michael and Horatio Hirst, a father-son duo.
Xavier Molyneux (Erik Bloodaxe)
This was his first comic con, and we all talked about how many years we’ve been attending cons.
What drew you to the character of Erik Bloodaxe?
It’s something that you dream of. It’s not like a drawing; it’s like, you see the script coming, you see the audition pop up, and you just go, I wanna put something down for that and forget about it because theres a jillion other guys across the world of international casting; there’s no chance. So it’s not what drew you to the character, but I would be so lucky to get a chance to play this character, and then the added pressure of the universe.
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Image Source: Yardbarker
Jessica Madsen (Gunnhild)
Is there any moment that happened to the real woman that you were excited to bring to life in the show?
I mean, where we see her at the start of the show, and in this season, is the woman before the title, and for me it was important to portray young Gunnhild. You know, someone who has the fire, who has the power, but also makes mistakes and who is hot-headed and sometimes as impetuous as Erik is, so there’s somewhere to take her. And I think I explored a lot of different elements of what it’s like to feel like a young woman, a young mother, but it’s great to get the opportunity to get a second season and to be growing the characters and going in different directions. You know, building up to that title is exciting.
Levi Miller
What drew you to wanting to play Haakon?
I think it really was the internal aspects of him. Obviously theres the epicness of everything that goes on, but always within him is this kind of tortured person that's being pulled apart and having to put a wall up there and don a lot of different hats and, you know, play to the crowds that he’s in, and never really able to let himself out, and I think that’s always really fun to play when you've got something bubbling at the surface constantly.
Do you have a favorite scene you did?
It’s funny, it was that one, referring to a scene where he gets to present a different aspect of who he is. It really was just having all the other supporting artists around, and everyone is dressed in the attire; it was kind of a culmination of everything I was already enjoying into this one moment.
Image Source: Variety
Michael & Horatio Hirst
What made you want to bring this story to life, of these characters in particular?
Horatio: You hear the name ‘Bloodaxe,’ and you’re immediately captivated, and you learn about this king and world populated by these incredible characters, sort of larger than life, too good to be true for two writers, but then you realize they’re real. I mean, Bloodaxe is a really interesting figure. He was king of Norway, York in his time, king of Ireland, potentially, and theres a Scaldic poem, the name escapes me, but it’s about Odin welcoming Erik Bloodaxe to Valhalla. There are almost no Vikings, not even Ragnar Lothbrok; this happened to. There are some sources which say he’s a merciless brother killer, but the truth is that his life was a lot more complex than that.
Michael: I wrote 89 episodes of Vikings, and I loved every minute of it, but it nearly killed me. The idea of writing with my son was wonderful, and because I have been so tired and so exhausted, starting again with a fresh project, working with Horatio, was a great boost for me, to share things, and to be very brave about what we wrote about and take this story forward. The thing was, I thought I was done with Vikings, then someone said, sort of casually, “Why haven’t you written about Bloodaxe?” I said, "My God I spent 6 years working and researching Vikings, I never heard of him. He’s the most famous Viking! So I immediately did some research, and he’s an incredible character and person; I’ve got to do it.
Bloodaxe premieres January 20th, 2027 on Amazon Prime.
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