I watched and (largely) enjoyed the series "Vikings". I thought perhaps it never matched the level of some of TV's all-time classics, but I was happy to learn that this spin off was coming and overall, enjoyed this first season.
Decades after Ragnar Lothbrok and Ivar The Boneless have passed into legend, Christianity has taken a firm foothold in the Norse world and those converts look to purge the pagans from their historic communities. The forces though reunite to launch a revenge offensive against the English crown following the St Brice's Day Massacre - where communities of Danish settlers are slaughtered in an organised revenge attack. As they prepare for battle, an Icelandic warrior Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett) suggests a daring plan to attack London.
Essentially, the key thing to say is that the show does feel like more "Vikings" - despite a largely different creative team. Indeed, Michael Hirst's credit is little more than a nominal "based on the series" one. Like the later seasons of the lead show, the plot is spent mixed between the Christian/Pagan story - which is largely centred on Kattegat and the machinations of the English Crown, which falls quickly into the hands of young Edmund - played by Louis Davison, but whose step mother, Emma of Normandy, played by Laura Berlin, is the skilled political operator.
Performances are good, again a number of English and Australians are pretending to be Scandinavian, including Sam Corlett and Leo Suter, who are probably the shows lead characters. Quite a number I recognised, though not from anything specific. The most high-profile actor is probably Pollyanna McIntosh, who appears as the season runs on.
As with the original series, the show is a mixture of real events and people with composite characters and a fictional timeline and builds to a dramatic series of conclusions to some storylines and twists in others. I enjoyed it, overall, and look forward to the two further seasons that Netflix have confirmed.