‘Vikings’ Season 4: What Is On The Horizon For Duke Rollo Now Clive Standen Has Taken On Another Major TV Role?

The new trailer for the Season 4 return of History’s Vikings dropped yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con. In it was the return of Duke Rollo, but just how long will Rollo remain in Vikings now the actor who plays him, Clive Standen, has joined the cast of NBC’s Taken?

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses the historical aspects of the character Rollo that may spoil upcoming storylines in Season 4 and 5 of History’s Vikings. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid potential spoilers.

Historically, the character of Rollo still has a lot of story to tell. After all, he conquered Normandy in France. At the moment, in Season 4 of Vikings, the town of Normandy hasn’t even gotten a mention, so if History decides to follow the historically-accurate path for his character, it means Duke Rollo will be around for quite some time yet. Which creates a bit of a dilemma now that Clive Standen has joined another TV series, Taken.

In NBC’s Taken, Clive Standen will be playing the main character, Bryan Mills. As reported previously in The Inquisitr, Mills is a character made famous by Liam Neeson in the movie of the same name. In NBC’s version, Taken will follow a much younger version of Bryan Mills and is considered a prequel to the 2008 movie. So, essentially, Clive will have two major television roles to juggle for this year at least.

Earlier this year, Standen confirmed via Digital Spy that he will continue on with both programs.

“I’ve got a happy problem at the moment where I’m in two shows. I’m going to be doing Taken until October time and I’m going to pick up and re-join the Vikings team later on in season five. I’m going straight from Toronto back to Dublin, so it’s a good problem to have!”

Deadline have since reported that, while Standen will take on the challenge of both roles, perhaps the character of Rollo will take a back burner in Season 5 of Vikings, indicating that Rollo may not get to Normandy for some time yet. Or, alternatively, perhaps History will give his character an advanced story arc in the second half of Season 4 of Vikings to get him there before allowing his character to take a backseat for a while. Deadline even suggested the arrival of newcomer, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, might help fill the Rollo-sized hole left behind.

It appears Clive Standen was not questioned about this during the Vikings Comic-Con panel this weekend, so there is no extra news to report on just how he plans to juggle his two television roles in the future. Also, during the Vikings panel, the show’s creator, Michael Hirst, was not questioned about Rollo’s storylines in the remainder of Season 4 and into Season 5, so it is hard to judge just how History have dealt with this complication.

But, what we do know about Rollo’s upcoming storylines in the return of Season 4 of Vikings comes directly from the new trailer dropped at Comic-Con. It seems, even though Rollo’s nephew, Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig), hated his uncle bitterly in the first half of Season 4, a reconciliation is made in the second half. This reconciliation appears to be entirely because Bjorn wants safe passage to the Mediterranean Sea. Rollo seems to be in conflict with himself as well, declaring to his wife, Gisla (Morgane Polanski), that he “cannot deny that part of himself that is still Viking,” so it looks like Rollo could be raiding again. Perhaps this will give History the opportunity to either fast-track Rollo’s conquest of Normandy or leave the door open to kill off his character? Only by tuning into the Season 4 return of Vikings in the Fall will reveal all.

You can view the new trailer for Season 4 of Vikings below.

What do you think will happen with the character of Rollo in the upcoming seasons of Vikings? Let us know your thoughts and theories by commenting below!

Vikings will return later in 2016, and the series has been renewed for Season 5 by the History Channel.

[Image via History]