Vinland Saga Season 3 Release Date: Here Is What We Know!
Vinland Saga is a historical manga written and drawn by mangaka Makoto Yukimura. The series was published by Kōdansha in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from April 2005 before being moved to the monthly magazine Afternoon in December 2005. The manga is inspired by several Icelandic sagas and refers to the discovery of North America by the Vikings. An adaptation into an animated television series by Wit Studio first aired between July 8 and December 30, 2019. A second season is in production by studio MAPPA. Due to the series’ enormous popularity, we have decided to tell you everything we know about Season 3 of Vinland Saga.
The third season of Vinland Saga still hasn’t been confirmed or canceled yet. The first season aired only three years ago and with a second season scheduled for 2023, it’s still too early to tell. But, there is more than enough material in the ongoing manga series, and based on the series’ popularity, the future seems bright. Having said all of this, a third season is highly likely. We just don’t know when it could happen.
The rest of this article will bring you all the known and unknown information related to a potential season three of Vinland Saga. You’re going to find out about its potential release date, whether there is a trailer, what the story could be about, and much more about this exciting anime series whose future is still somewhat uncertain.
What do we know about Season 3 of Vinland Saga?
The series debuted in April 2005 in publisher Kōdansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine. In October of the same year, the publication was suspended, to resume in December in the monthly magazine Afternoon, also published by Kōdansha. This change happened because Makoto Yukimura could not follow the weekly tempo; one chapter per week generally seems ill-suited for historical series, as the research takes time, the plot takes place over a long period of time and the sets have to be worked on more.
This resulted in there being two versions of volumes 1 and 2. The reprint from Afternoon‘s publication brought changes, different covers, and new comments from the author, especially on the jackets. The author sometimes uses omake, special chapters, and other means to comment on the making of Vinland Saga.
In Volume 2, an omake discusses the research trip he took to Iceland in 2003 before starting the manga, and the author’s comments in Volumes 1 and 3 speak of Yukimura’s desire to learn and portray the daily life of the Vikings, not just the wars and events of historical chronicles. Yukimura is working with four assistants on the drawings: Haito Kumagai, Kazuoki Suzuki, Tomoyuki Takami, and Daiju Watanabe.
On March 19, 2018, production company Twin Engine announced that the series would receive an anime adaptation produced by Wit Studio. The series was directed by Shūhei Yabuta with scripts written by Hiroshi Seko and Kenta Ihara, character designs by Takahiko Abiru, and a soundtrack composed by Yutaka Yamada.
Consisting of 24 episodes, the first season aired in Japan between July 8 and December 30, 2019, on NHK General TV, with the first three episodes airing consecutively. The airing of the 10th episode was delayed for a week due to media coverage of the impending arrival of Typhoon Faxai. Due to the broadcast of the World Para Athletics Championships on NHK, episode 18 was delayed for one week and aired on November 17, 2019.
Amazon has exclusive streaming rights to the series in Japan and overseas through its video-on-demand service, Prime Video, and the first episode was released on July 7, 2019. The first episode has its world premiere during the 20th edition of the Japan Expo in July 2019.
The songs of the first opening and ending of the series are respectively produced by the group Survive Said The Prophet and by Aimer. The songs of the second opening and ending are respectively produced by the group MAN WITH A MISSION and by milet.
On July 7, 2021, Twin Engine announced the production of a second season with the return of Shūhei Yabuta as director, Hiroshi Seko as the main writer, Takahiko Abiru as the character designer, and Yutaka Yamada as the composer. This second season will be produced by the animation studio MAPPA. The series will air in Japan on Tokyo MX and BS11 channels in January 2023 with a total of 24 episodes. The second season of the anime will be available internationally on Crunchyroll except in Asia and on Netflix except in China.
So, what does all of this tell us? Not much, really. The series is enormously popular, but this information – and that is all we have – doesn’t tell us much about the future of the show, which is a bummer. Still, based on several facts, we can state that the future of Vinland Saga seems quite bright. First of all, manga is still ongoing, which means that there is a need to promote written materials, which is why anime adaptations are usually made. This also means that there are more stories to adapt. Secondly, the second season has yet to air, which means that the show is certainly going to get more hype in the upcoming months. Thirdly, Vinland Saga is quite popular and has been favorably compared to Attack on Titan.
All of these things add up to the fact that Vinland Saga is probably not getting canceled after the upcoming second season. We can never be absolutely certain, but based on our knowledge of the industry, we can reassure you that you’ll probably be seeing more of the show in the future.
In any case, the earliest we could see a potential third season is late 2024, but we’d have to get some confirmation on the future during 2023. If not, 2025 remains a strong possibility as well; we also cannot rule out 2026 either. The fans are demanding a new season and it is probably going to happen, but based on the tempo so far, we cannot really speculate when it might be happening.
What could be the plot of Vinland Saga Season 3?
At this moment, we have absolutely no idea about the content of a potential third season of Vinland Saga. Why? Well, as we’ve said, the third season hasn’t been greenlit yet, and with the second season airing in 2023, we have no idea where the season will end and that the writers plan to adapt in a potential third season. This is why we can only bring a general overview of the series to, roughly, prepare you for what you could expect from a potential third season.
In the year 1002, Thorfinn is six years old and lives with his family in a small settlement in Iceland. Life there with his father Thors, his mother Helga, and his older sister Ylfa is tough but carefree. His father, nicknamed the “Troll of Joms”, faked his death in a battle off Norway in order to desert from the Jomsvikings and disappeared with his wife to Iceland.
His mother is the daughter of King Sigvaldi. The only adventures bring the stories of the ridiculed Leif Eriksson, who tells of the discovery of the legendary Vinlands. But that changes when a warship pulls into port. On board is Floki, an envoy of King Sigvaldi of Jomsburg, who is blackmailing Thorfinn’s father into aiding her in the Battle of Britain.
This, a former war hero who has long renounced killing, reluctantly agrees and clears a ship to Jomsburg. He sets off with some overzealous young men from the village and is accompanied by Leif. Thorfinn is secretly hiding on board. Meanwhile, in the Faroe Islands, Floki orders the leader of a mercenary force, Askeladd, to kill Thor. So it soon comes to a duel between Askeladd and Thors, with Thorfinn’s father being the victor.
However, he still loses his life when he tries to protect of his son. Driven only by a desire for revenge, Thorfinn then joins forces with Askeladd in order to one day defeat him in a fair duel. Six years later, Vikings, including Askeladd and his troupe, invaded England under Sweyn, King of the Danes. Thorfinn does Askeladd’s dirty work in order to earn the right to ongoing dueling.
In 1013 England seems to have lost the war. Only London, under the leadership of the Jomsviking Thorkell, withstands the besiegers. After another failed attack, resulting in a fight between Thorfinn and Thorkell, the Danes retreat and King Sweyn sends his youngest son, Knut, to continue the siege, but he too fails. The prince and his trusty Ragnar are then pursued by Thorkell.
As a result, Askeladd and his troop manage to get hold of the prince. Askeladd initially uses Canute as a political puppet; however, sacrifices himself to secure the throne for Canute. Robbed of his revenge, Thorfinn attacks the prince but is overpowered and sold as a slave to a farmer. There Thorfinn ponders the future content of his life, while Canute intrigues to gain rulership of England.
What could be the cast of Vinland Saga Season 3?
It’s still too early for us to discuss a potential third season of Vinland Saga in terms of cast and characters, simply because we do not know whether there will even be a third season. But, seeing how we know that the series is going to have a more-or-less fixed cast, we really don’t expect to see too many changes in the structure of season three if it happens. Now, the main characters that have appeared in seasons one and two, likely to return for a third season, include:
| Character | Japanese voice actor (Seiyū) |
|---|---|
| Askeladd | Naoya Uchida |
| Thorfinn | Yuuto Uemura |
| Canute | Kensho Ono |
| Thorkell | Akio Ootsuka |
| Thors | Kenichirou Matsuda |
| Bjorn | Hiroki Yasumoto |
| Leif | Yōji Ueda |
| Einar | Shunsuke Takeuchi |
| Arnheid | Mayumi Sako |
| Snake | Fuminori Komatsu |
| Olmar | Yū Hayashi |
| Thorgil | Taiten Kusunoki |
