Question: What does Bjorn have to learn before he can become a leader as strong as his father?

Answer: I think the main part of this whole season for me is Bjorn basically learning to trust his instincts and that power corrupts and it’s important to - as much as he can trust everyone, the most important thing is that he trusts himself and this whole season is kind of about him learning to do that and learning to take more control.

Question: Do you think that his father is hard on him because he wants to make him a better leader or because he fears that Bjorn might become too strong?

Answer: I think it’s the first. You’ve just got to be a bit hard on your children and that’s kind of what he’s done as he’s been trying to harden them up because he didn’t have to work as hard as his father did at the start. He was kind of thrown into this more lavish lifestyle than he was. Ragnar was a father whereas Bjorn grew up but his father had become a king when he was still a younger man so it’s definitely about him growing up.

Question: Can you tell us about that crazy bear fight? How much of it was CGI and what was the most challenging part about the whole filming process?

Answer: I think the most challenging part was definitely the conditions. The weather was pretty rough and pretty cold but in terms of the bear, most of it is real. We don’t have a budget like The Revenant so we can’t make a CGI bear so in a really exciting way, we got to use a real one and it was a very, very incredible experience to work with such a beautiful and amazing animal.

Question: What’s the future for Bjorn and Porunn going forward this season? There’s kind of a heartbreaking scene at the beginning with Bjorn kind of shunning his daughter. Is he going to change his attitude on that?

Answer: Yes. The idea behind that was that it’s put on very subtly is that Vikings lost their children a lot and I think that Bjorn, when he sees his daughter for the first time since Thorunn has left and abandoned him and his daughter, it’s just a constant reminder of how hurt he was so, yes, I do actually, I think that you’re going to see a darker side to Bjorn as the season continues. He slowly starts to become hardened by life’s cruel circumstances and also become selfish by doing that.

Question: So Porunn is gone but there seems to be a new woman is Bjorn’s life. Can you tell me a little bit about your character’s relationship with Torvi? Is there a romance brewing there?

Answer: It’s kind of a power play at the start for Bjorn. It’s him kind of just taking what he wants and what’s his and that’s something you’ll see more in this season as well is that he becomes more ruthless as a character and he takes what he wants and doesn’t think twice about it so at the beginning it’s a bit of a power play and I wouldn’t say it goes much further than purely a sexual attraction. These Vikings had so many partners and whatnot. I mean, he’s gone for so long and he’s away for so long, you’re going to see quite a few different romances in this in this season.

Question: Now that Bjorn has left Aslaug to take care of his daughter, does that at some point give her some kind of power over him seeing as she looks like she’s going for Ragnar’s throne?

Answer: Well yes I mean of course it does, but at the same time Bjorn has left, he’s got command over the army. Just because there’s conflict between his stepmother and himself, I don’t think he believes for one second that she would hold his daughter hostage. I mean she’s still married to his father whether she likes it or not.

Question: Bjorn and Floki always shared a special bond, So what changed? What made him imprison Floki in front of the whole village?

Answer: At the end of the day Bjorn had to do what’s right about his people and if somebody betrays the wishes of his father who is the king, they need to be dealt with no matter who it is. It’s not easy for Bjorn to do. He puts on a front. He does his best to show everyone that this is what has to be done, but it’s not an easy feat for him at all.

Question: How do you see Bjorn’s spiritual growth unfolding especially in reference to the fight, the struggles going on between Floki and traditional Vikings faith and Ragnar and his turn toward modern Christianity?

Answer: I think Ragnar, he’s always been the curious type whereas Floki has been more of the fundamental extremist and Bjorn, as he struggles to find his place and has his own opinions and beliefs, his trek in the woods serve as a foil for that and I would say that he definitely he believes in the gods, he appreciates the power that they have over their people but at the same time, he shares his father’s curiosity.

Question: The relationship between Ragnar and Rollo has been extremely contentious. Is that something that Bjorn is also going to experience with his own brothers because right now they seem to all be fairly close?

Answer: That’s one thing that I try never to forget is that Bjorn actually has no allegiance to his brothers in terms of bloodline. I mean, everyone shared the same father but Lagertha is Bjorn’s mother and everyone else is born under Princess Aslaug so that’s definitely going to play and of course when they’re young they’re not threatening. As the season continues you’ll see certain brothers side with certain ones and others do not and it gets very, very intense.

Question: In the season premiere we saw Bjorn studying a map taken from Paris where we get a glimpse of Italy and Rome on the map. Is that possibly foreshadowing for Bjorn’s own future conquest?

Answer: Yes and that’s something we’ve known about since the beginning of the show.

Question: Can you tell us what drew you to the character and the role and what if anything is different how you approach doing something like this from some of the other movies that you’ve done?

Answer: I never saw myself doing a TV show ever. That was never my passion. The storylines on television have just been so exceptional and when Vikings came along, I was very reluctant to take the role at the beginning just because it’s quite a commitment. I kind of found solace in the fact that I knew I would only be there for four months out of the year so we’d only be 10-episode long and now with this double season order, it has definitely taken its toll but it’s been nothing short of the best decision I’ve ever made and the greatest experience. In terms of character-wise, and this is what you’re going to see in this season especially is I love the promise that was made to me by signing on to the show which you will see in season four which is I get to show this incredible growth since the beginning I signed on. This is Bjorn’s big season with Ragnar and you’re going to see a huge shift in color and it’s pretty amazing that I had the opportunity to be able to show such growth.

Question: Bjorn has come into his own and you now have so much screen time. What did you do prepare for that or was there any particular cast member that helped you more or crew that helped you get there where you needed to be?

Answer: Travis above all. He’s been my champion, he’s one of my best friends and he’s just completely amazing, just working with him and learning as much as I can. We both worked with an acting coach who’s incredible. So just consistently working on the scripts are really important, and also I would say Michael Hirst has been amazing because it’s so rare that you find a writer on especially on a television show that’s so open to collaboration. It’s so great and it really has been a dream come true.

Question: What do you think has been the biggest challenge you’ve encountered since the show began?

Answer: Well, I’d say it’s got to be the weather here is just unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it when you’re coming on the boats and working in these brutal conditions. The funny thing about the weather is that it just looks so great that you kind of find solace in the fact that the show is going to look awesome but it’s definitely been a brutal shoot towards the end.

Question: What is it like filming in Ireland and what you’re able to do during your off time to break up the monotony of filming?

Answer: I love what I do so much, but when I’m not working, I’ve been taking music production classes in Dublin and I’ve also been getting my pilot’s license in Wicklow. On set we just find the nearest bit of fruit or something you can throw at one of the crew members, the cast members, really it’s basically a food fight every day.

Question: How isolated were you in preparing for your vision quest scenes? Were you pulled away from the cast or did the cast know what was going to go on?

Answer: The cast never saw anything that we had done so that’s why they were so excited to see the episodes. They were so jealous that I got to go do it and we’re basically in the middle of nowhere and we have to take snow mobiles to the set, and just for me personally, I thought it was one of the most beautiful and spiritually awakening experiences I’ve ever had. I’m really happy that the studio and everybody took the risk and did it because it was definitely worth it.