'Vikings' To End With Season 6, Spinoff Series In The Works

As many fans have suspected, Vikings will end following its upcoming, sixth season -- but the producers behind the flagship History series are already negotiating a follow-up that would continue the saga, according to Deadline.

The series is currently ongoing, and will take a break after January 30, when the final season five episode hits the airwaves.

A 20-episode sixth season will wrap up the existing story, and presumably set up a potential follow-up, for which talks are still happening. There is no specific premiere date set for season six yet, although Deadline speculates that the series will wrap in 2020.

While creator Michael Hirst has written every episode of Vikings, he will be joined by Die Hard and The Fugitive writer Jeb Stuart (no relation to the DC Comics character of the same name -- as far as you know) for the prospective spinoff.

Vikings has been big in the geek space over the years, with a strong presence at Comic Con every year, appearances by Adam "The Edge" Copeland, and a tie-in comic book.

"Vikings" is the critically acclaimed series from creator and sole writer Michael Hirst (Academy Award® winning film Elizabeth and the Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominated series "The Tudors") and is a family saga that tells the remarkable tales of the lives and epic adventures of the raiders and explorers of the Dark Ages. Across all platforms, the last season of "Vikings" averaged 11.2 million viewers per episode. "Vikings" is a top five drama across all of cable this year, and finished its season as the #1 original series on cable on Wednesday nights among all key demographics (Live+SD). Vikings averaged 3.7 million total viewers in Live+7.

In the mid-season five finale, legendary Viking Rollo (Clive Standen) returns just as the divide between the Lothbrok family climaxes with Ragnar's sons battling each other to rule the world. The long-awaited faceoff ends with a strategic victory going to Ivar the Boneless (Alex Høgh Andersen) who vows vengeance on his betrayers with a direct target on Lagertha's (Katheryn Winnick) back. Last seen in an unstable state and losing her appearance as a fierce Viking warrior, Lagertha is hopeful she will regain her spot in Kattegat as its rightful leader.

Season five cast includes series regulars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as "Bishop Heahmund" along with Katheryn Winnick ("Lagertha"), Gustaf Skarsgård ("Floki"), Alex Høgh Andersen ("Ivar the Boneless"), Alexander Ludwig ("Bjorn"), Georgia Hirst ("Torvi"), Peter Franzen ("King Harald"), Jordan Patrick Smith ("Ubbe") and Marco Ilsø ("Hvitserk").

"Vikings" is an international Irish/Canadian co-production by TM Productions and Take 5 Productions. MGM Television serves as the worldwide distributor outside of Ireland and Canada. "Vikings" is produced in association with Corus Entertainment.