Danish singer shocks in huge Netflix series

In the large-scale series ‘Vikings: Valhalla’, which premieres on Netflix today Friday and which was announced earlier today by Ekstra Bladet’s RenĂ© Fredensborg to four stars, jazz singer Caroline Henderson plays one of the leading roles as Earl Estrid Haakon.

And it’s gotten behind the 59-year-old singer and actress, how huge a circus she has become a part of.

– People wait a lifetime to land such a role. And no one was more amazed than I was when I got it, says Caroline Henderson.

Caroline Henderson has a long musical career behind her and is not a trained actress, but has tried her hand at the subject in productions such as the film ‘Gooseboy’ and the Christmas calendar ‘Poinsettias’.

Completely different league
During the filming of the Netflix series, however, it became clear that the budget was in a completely different league.

– I tried to be a little cool at first, but you lose your jaw. Everything is built right. It’s like a small Danish village, it’s so big. The Viking ships and houses are the right size, there are horses and large castles. It was completely magical, she says.

The towering budget also meant that the team was locked inside their own bubble during the filming in Ireland due to the corona situation.

– I was told that this is such a large production – that is, almost like the whole of Denmark’s gross domestic product – so we can not let go of you. We can not risk people getting sick, she says about the message from the production.

Caroline Henderson was therefore away from her family for longer than ever before and could not see them for five months in a row.

There was not much free time either, because the work was hard from morning to evening. And Caroline Henderson felt a pressure on her shoulders.

– My role is a kind of queen, an earl. When I come in, it’s me who’s it. There is nothing to hide behind. And I just had to get used to the fact that if I fuck up, then there are 400 people sighing because the scene needs to be taken over, she says.

The other leadership roles are primarily filled by white men, but here Caroline Henderson and her role, Earl Haakon, stand out.

Some flash an extra time
Caroline Henderson is well aware that the choice of her – the daughter of a Swedish mother and a black American – as a Viking leader can make some people just blink an extra time.

– They’re taking some great liberties. But what we know today with DNA, research and archeology also dispels the myth that the Vikings were a pure Aryan race that was completely isolated from the outside world and lived up here in Scandinavia, says Caroline Henderson.

She dreams up to the day when it is not seen as so conspicuous that a dark woman plays a punchy leader.

– I find that people have longed for this. It is not something with a husband or children or family. Nah, it’s a leader, and she might as well have been played by a man. She’s busy with the mission, and that’s it.

By Editor

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