It’s finally upon us! The trailer for the highly anticipated second season of the historical anime Vinland Saga has finally been released, along with a release window for when fans will be able to continue the saga of Thorfinn.

Based on a manga series by Makoto Yukimura, Vinland Saga tells the story of Thorfinn “Karlsefni” (Yūto Uemura), a young Viking warrior who, until the end of Season 1, was vehemently seeking revenge on his father’s killer, Askeladd (Naoya Uchida). As surprising as it may seem to those who haven’t read it, the first season only covered what was essentially the manga’s prologue. When we last saw him in the finale, Thorfinn had been deprived of the one thing that had kept him going despite all the trials, tribulations, and heartache. His fate was left up in the air, leaving fans on an incredibly emotional cliffhanger.

The trailer begins with Askeladd’s voice telling Thorfinn to stand up. It should come as no surprise to those who’ve watched the first season that Thorfinn would be left without all the motivation he had previously. As he narrates in the trailer, he had been dealing with violence and war on a daily basis ever since he was a small child, but things have changed. There’s a clear difference in appearance between the spunky dual dagger-wielding teenager we got to know and the shell of a man we’re shown in the trailer.

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We are also introduced and shown snippets of new characters that we hadn’t seen before. One of them, a man named Einar (Shunsuke Takeuchi), had made a very brief appearance at the end of the first season, standing on a boat in the middle of a storm, which left fans speculating as to what his future role might be. The trailer makes it clear that this season will not be like the first one. While Season 1 was action-focused, Season 2 seems to be setting up a character-focused Arc with a slower pace.

While Wit Studio was behind the first season’s animation, MAPPA Studio has taken over the production of the second season, a similar situation to what happened with Attack on Titan Season 4. Other members of the main voice cast include Akio Ōtsuka as Thorkell, Kenshō Ono as Canute, Yōji Ueda as Leif, and Hiroki Yasumoto as Bjorn. Other voice actors that are joining the cast this season include Fuminori Komatsu as Snake, Yuu Hayashi as Olmar, Mayumi Sako as Arnheid, Taiten Kusunoki as Thorgil, and Hideaki Tezuka as Ketil.

Vinland Saga Season 2 is set to premiere in January 2023. Check out the new trailer below: