
The Cast Sets Sail In The Northman
Get Tickets THE NORTHMAN opens April 22 Robert Eggers chilled you to the bone with THE WITCH in 2015. He challenged the way you interpreted mythological lore with THE LIGHTHOUSE in 2019. In 2022, the visionary filmmaker brings you face to face with the brutal, anarchic era of the Viking with THE NORTHMAN. Co-written by Eggers and acclaimed Icelandic author Sjón, this visually stunning and thoroughly invigorating epic is also a classic tale of revenge as seen through the eyes of a lone, burdened prince played by Alexander Skarsgård. We shall explore more about his character and his career, as well as that of the rest of the dazzling ensemble in THE NORTHMAN cast, below. Alexander Skarsgård (Amleth) Since Sweden has a history of Vikings, it is fitting that Amleth, the hero of THE NORTHMAN, is played by Swedish-born actor Alexander Skarsgård - son of Stellan and older brother of Bill, among other famous Skarsgårds. Alexander made his English-language debut in 2001’s ZOOLANDER before he was cast on HBO’s “True Blood” as a vampire coincidentally named Eric Northman, from 2008 to 2014. He last played a hulking, shirtless hero of animalistic skill in 2016’s THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, and more recently assisted a hulking animal’s heroic deed in GODZILLA VS. KONG in 2021. In between then, Skarsgård won an Emmy for playing Perry Wright on HBO’s “Big Little Lies” in 2017, flexed his comedic muscles in 2019’s LONG SHOT and played the main antagonist of Paramount+’s “The Stand” remake the following year. Nicole Kidman (Queen Gudrún) Playing Amleth’s mother, Queen Gudrún, in THE NORTHMAN — after previously playing Alexander Skarsgård’s wife on HBO’s “Big Little Lies” — is Nicole Kidman, who broke out as a teen in the 1983 Australian cult classic, BMX BANDITS. She became a household name after starring in period dramas like FAR AND AWAY, comic book blockbusters like BATMAN FOREVER, thrillers like THE OTHERS and musicals like MOULIN ROUGE!, before her performance as Virginia Woolf in THE HOURS made her an Oscar® winner. She would go on to star in more period dramas like COLD MOUNTAIN, comic book blockbusters like AQUAMAN and its upcoming sequel, thrillers like THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER and more musicals like HAPPY FEET!, in addition to also earning several more Oscar nominations — most recently as Lucille Ball in BEING THE RICARDOS — Kidman has also ruled the small screen in limited series like HBO’s “The Undoing” and “Nine Perfect Strangers” on Hulu. Anya Taylor-Joy (Olga) Anya Taylor-Joy plays Olga in THE NORTHMAN, which is her first collaboration with Robert Eggers since THE WITCH - the film that made her one of her generation’s top Scream Queens. She would continue to maintain that reputation with horror films like SPLIT, which is also her first superhero movie, or THOROUGHBREDS, which is dark enough to be counted here, or Edgar Wright’s LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, most recently. The actress, born in America but raised in Argentina and later London, has also excelled in period dramas like the 2020 Jane Austen adaptation, EMMA., and the Netflix limited series “The Queen’s Gambit,” in which she gives, just about, her most acclaimed performance to date. Critics and audiences alike are excited to see what Taylor-Joy brings to the title role of the upcoming MAD MAX: FURY ROAD prequel, FURIOSA, and when she voices Princess Peach in an animated feature based on the SUPER MARIO BROS. video games. Ethan Hawke (King Auvandil) As Amleth’s father, King Auvandil — whose murder Amleth vows to avenge in THE NORTHMAN — we have Ethan Hawke, who, like Nicole Kidman, made his acting debut as a teen in the 1980s with the sci-fi adventure, EXPLORERS, which he followed with the Oscar winner DEAD POETS SOCIETY in 1989. The 1995 romance BEFORE SUNRISE — the first of a trilogy — was also his first of many collaborations with Richard Linklater, who would later direct the actor in a Best Supporting Actor Oscar-nominated performance in BOYHOOD, which was filmed over the course of 12 years. Hawke first received a nod from the Academy for 2001’s TRAINING DAY and, like Anya Taylor-Joy, has become a bit of a modern horror movie icon since leading 2012’s SINISTER from Scott Derrickson, whom he is reuniting with for 2022’s THE BLACK PHONE. The FIRST REFORMED star is also showing his dark side as the main antagonist of the Marvel TV show “Moon Knight” on Disney+. Willem Dafoe (Heimir) According to the official website for THE NORTHMAN, Robert Eggers specifically wrote the part of Heimir for Willem Dafoe, whom the filmmaker previously worked with on THE LIGHTHOUSE and also said, when speaking to Slashfilm , that he wants to cast him in his proposed NOSFERATU remake. That would actually be perfect, because the actor received an Oscar nomination for playing a fictionalized, undead Max Schreck in SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE in 2001. Dafoe has also been nominated for three other Academy Awards® — namely for the chilling Vietnam War story PLATOON, the 2017 drama THE FLORIDA PROJECT and for playing Vincent Van Gogh in 2018’s AT ETERNITY’S GATE. THE NORTHMAN also marks a reunion with his AQUAMAN co-star Nicole Kidman, after previously returning to his more famous comic book character role, Norman “Green Goblin” Osborn, in Marvel’s SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME. Claes Bang (Fjölnir The Brotherless) The man whom Amleth has vowed to save his mother from, seek revenge on for murdering his father and kill once and for all is Fjölnir, who is played in THE NORTHMAN by Claes Bang. The Danish actor technically made his English-language film debut with Fede Alvarez’s THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB in 2018, but he gave a bilingual performance a year earlier in the bold satire, THE SQUARE, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2019, he starred opposite Elizabeth Debicki, Donald Sutherland and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in the heist thriller THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY, and had a recurring role on the final season of Showtime’s hit drama “The Affair.” A year after his brilliant reimagining of the title role of Netflix’s three-part miniseries, DRACULA, in 2020, Bang appeared in HBO Max’s pandemic set comedy, LOCKED DOWN. Björk (Seeress) When moviegoers see Björk appear as “Seeress,” they should surely recognize her as one of Iceland’s most popular and wildly inventive musicians, having first gained popularity as the lead singer of Sugarcubes. However, she also has an acting career — and not just counting her many, visually stunning music videos — that dates all the way back to 1988, when she led the Icelandic TV movie, BROKEN GLASS. She made her major motion picture debut with 1990’s THE JUNIPER TREE, had an uncredited appearance in Robert Altman’s 1994 comedy READY TO WEAR and, in 2005, was directed by her then-partner Matthew Barney is one of his experimental films, DRAWING RESTRAINT. However, Björk’s Hollywood career reached its peak in 2000 with DANCER IN THE DARK, a drama written by director Lars Von Trier and THE NORTHMAN co-scribe Sjón, for which she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival and her original song, “I’ve Seen It All,” received an Oscar nomination. If seeing Björk’s return to the big screen is not enough to excite you for when THE NORTHMAN hits theaters on Friday, April 22, perhaps the rest of the stellar cast and Robert Eggers’ dazzling cinematic eye will! Get Tickets THE NORTHMAN opens April 22