The History Channel has announced that they will take their first step into original scripted television with a 10 episode drama, Vikings, which will chronicle the world of the mighty Norsemen who raided, traded and explored during medieval times.

Vikings follows the adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok, an actual historical figure, and the greatest hero of his age. The series tells the sagas of Ragnar’s band of Viking brothers and his family, as he rises to become King of the Viking tribes. As well as being a fearless warrior, Ragnar embodies the Norse traditions of devotion to the gods. According to legend he was a direct descendent of Odin, the god of war and warriors.

According to The History Channel, the series “will boast a polished, stylized look that pushes the boundaries of television drama” and will feature “imaginatively choreographed battles that emphasize individual points of view, strategies and ruses rather than mindless, graphic slaughter.”

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According to Variety, the movie likely to be Mel Gibson’s next directorial effort will be a viking story, written by William Monahan (The Departed, Kingdom of Heaven), and starring once and future heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s really early in the process to be saying this – as Gibson is finishing up The Beaver with Jodie Foster, and DiCaprio just finished principal photography on Christopher Nolan’s Inception – but I got pretty excited when I read the headline to the story.

Of course, I initially had hoped that maybe Gibson was going to star in the movie as well, but he’s done well enough with the period movies where he was just behind the camera (Apocalypto). Monahan, has been on a steady role since breaking in, with KoH being his first credited feature writing gig. He also scripted the soon to be released Martin Campbell, Mel Gibson starring movie Edge of Darkness.

DiCaprio’s ventures into periods, beyond the 30′s or 40′s, has been the 17th century Man in the Iron Mask, and the 19th century Gangs of New York. So, it’ll be interesting to see him stepping back further to meet the time frames of Gibson’s previous movies (13th century in Braveheart, 16th in Apocalypto, and the first century in The Passion of The Christ).