Alexander Ludwig: What’s Next For Bjorn On ‘Vikings’

Alexander Ludwig recently made his debut in History’s “Vikings,” as Bjorn, the nearly grown-up son of Travis Fimmel’s Ragnar Lothbrook.

While the two characters recently had a happy moment, reuniting after four years apart, their meeting in last week’s episode wasn’t under the happiest of circumstances.

Jarl Borg seized Kattegat and with many of the fighting men over in England, Ragnar and his other family (with Princess Aslaug) have been greatly outnumbered. But, help arrived as the episode closed out last week, in the form of Ragnar’s first wife – Lagertha (Kathryn Winnick), his son, Bjorn, and an army of men.

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Last time Bjorn saw his father, it was when he chose to leave Ragnar behind and follow his mother, and he still has mixed feelings over it all.

“There’s a bunch of conflicted emotions within him. He’s obviously excited and he missed his father and he can’t wait to basically learn from him again and have that father figure in his life because his stepfather was awful, but then, of course, there’s also this resentment of his father being the reason that his family broke up in the first place,” Alexander told AccessHollywood.com of how Bjorn feels.

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“But what I will say is that one thing I realized is it’s been four years since he was a child and a lot can happen in even just a year. I mean, I’m not the same person I was last year and so I think he’s definitely matured to a point where he really does realize that what his father did — everyone’s just human and I think he’s come to accept that and more importantly he’s excited to just put it behind [them] and really just start a life again with his family,” Alexander continued.

Ragnar’s extramarital affair that resulted in Aslaug coming to Kattegat, heavily pregnant with his child in the Season 2 premiere, prompted Lagertha and Bjorn to leave. So now that Bjorn’s back in Aslaug’s presence, he has mixed feelings about her too.

“There’s definitely tension there, but then again, it’s very similar. He’s an older soul, and he’s grown up to kind of just accept that that’s what happened and as the season goes on, you really see Bjorn deal with that on a mature level,” Alexander explained. “This season is really about Bjorn finding himself and finding his place in the community and as a man, and as one of the greatest warriors that ever lived. He gets the name ‘Bjorn Ironside,’ and in legend, from [history], he was known as that because he was one of the greatest fighters of all time.”

And it appears playing a warrior prompted a little play fighting when the cameras weren’t rolling.

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“Every day on set, Travis and I would start wrestling with each other,” Alexander said of fun they had while filming the series in Ireland. “It’s literally just like one big family, just having a great time together. It’s a 12 year old boy’s dream. Back when I was 12, I would have done anything to be doing what I’m doing now — basically just getting paid to go and fight with swords and do the whole thing, so it’s great.”

As for who won those Alexander/Travis wrestling matches?

“At the start, it did take me a while to get that upper hand, but eventually I’d say it turned out pretty even,” Alexander said.

“Vikings” airs Thursdays at 10/9c on History.

— Jolie Lash