‘Vikings: Valhalla’ Showrunner Jeb Stuart on ‘Character-Based Action’ and Dreaming in Old Norse

variety.com:

Mónica Marie Zorrilla “Vikings: Valhalla” showrunner Jeb Stuart has fathered four kids, and he’s about to pop out his fifth — in the form of the Netflix sequel series.“I’m ready to have this baby,” Stuart says. “There’s so much anticipation, especially when you’ve come to really love a project, and love the group of people you work with and they all care about it and have put so much into it.

I’m so excited.”Stuart, whose filmography as a screenwriter includes “Die Hard” and “The Fugitive,” wound up developing the highly anticipated streaming sequel to Michael Hirst’s celebrated historical drama “Vikings” — which takes place a century after its predecessor, and packs in more action and adventure without sparing accuracy — because of another show he made for Netflix. “I was developing a show called ‘The Liberator,’ and Morgan O’Sullivan, one of the executive producers for ‘Vikings,’ had been slated to produce,” he says. “I wound up getting to know him well.

During that time, we were going to shoot it over in Europe, and I would come and go through Ireland for a meeting or two, and would often pop down to the ‘Vikings’ set and that’s how I got to meet Michael.”After they wrapped Season 6, Stuart was approached by O’Sullivan who had said that there was a possibility that “Vikings” wouldn’t mark the end of the franchise.

Stuart was hesitant, and spoke with Hirst about how he had no desire to do a Season 7, but that he was open to the possibility of creating something new with the DNA of the old.