Tallaght’s Viking invasion sees popular series filmed in Jobstown
By Aura McMenamin
Tallaght had its own Nordic invasion this week, with the hugely popular television series Vikings being filmed in Jobstown.
The Irish-Canadian production broadcasted its latest episode on RTÉ 2 last night (Wednesday).
The Echo learned this week that season six is currently in production, with an old Roadstone quarry in Jobstown being used to film an episode of the show.
On Wednesday, a white marquee was seen stretching along the back of the site, which sits on land off the Old Blessington Road.
Key location manager Manus Hingerty told spoke to the Echo: “We’re filming here for a total of three days. We chose this location because we get a lot of help from Roadstone who let us use their quarries.
“We’re using this location as a frozen fjord. It has a very dramatic rockface; it’s a great location to shoot a complicated sequence.
“A quarry is a flexible space because it could be from any time period.”
According to Mr Hingerty, the site saw up to 500 people, including the main cast and ‘hundreds’ of extras on set this week, with a further day of shooting scheduled for next week.
The scene will be featured in episode seven of season six, which will be broadcast on RTÉ2 next year.
Vikings is loosely based on history and tells the story of the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and later those of his sons.
The series, which is produced by Irish production company Octagon Films and Canadian company Take 5 Productions, premiered in March 2013.
Vikings’ homebase is Ashford Studios in Ashford, Wicklow, although filming has also taken place in Norway, Iceland and Morocco.
The series has also regularly held casting calls for extras hoping to make an appearance on the show, which broadcasts on RTÉ2 and the History Channel in the US and Canada.
Irish actors Jonathan Rhs Meyers and real-life Gardai and Love/Hate actor Kieran O’Reilly, a past pupil of St Kilian’s National School in Tallaght, will both make appearances on the show’s fifth season, which premiered on January 10, 2018 in Ireland.
Given that the first invasions of Vikings from Norway in 795 led to many violent raids on monasteries across Ireland, and the bloody Battle of Clontarf in 1014, we hope that these guests will be more well-behaved.
This is the second television series in two months to have set their sights on Tallaght. In December, The Echo reported that Scandinavian show Rig-45 was being filmed at Belgard House in Belgard Square, Tallaght.
