Lagertha became a fan favorite, especially among female Vikings viewers looking for women warriors among all those burly, bearded dudes. But when Michael Hirst first envisioned the show, he didn't see a spot for Lagertha and other Viking ladies.
In January 2020, Winnick told TVLine that when she first signed on to the series, she was told that Lagertha would probably only be around for a few seasons. "Michael Hirst made it clear that it's a show about the sons of Ragnar, it's a male demographic show, it's on History Channel, they're mostly males that watch it," she said. However, echoing her character's fighting spirit, Winnick added, "but I fought my way through, and they made creative choices with Lagertha that weren't even really written so much in the earlier years."
Winnick also credited her fans for making sure Lagertha lasted longer than many of the show's other original characters — even Ragnar. "I've been so fortunate to have such loyal fans that it made it almost impossible to kill me," she said. Variety reported that some fans even took that Viking attitude a bit too far, and sent Hirst death threats over his decision to kill off Lagertha.
For Hirst's part, it seems that he's had a change of heart over the importance of female characters in the show. In 2020, he told Variety that when he was thinking of how to kill Lagertha, he knew, "it had to be a standalone moment because so often in the show Lagertha has been with the collective: She's been in the army or she's fought with her son. She was the queen of Kattegat. I wanted her to have her own story".
