"Vikings" Star Alyssa Sutherland on Her Misunderstood Character

I'm here with the gorgeous Alyssa Sutherland. How are you?

Hi, good. How are you?

I'm wonderful. I was just commenting on your lovely outfit.

Thanks. Great. Yeah, I put it together myself. Yeah, the pocket matches the pants. Leather. Everything kinda goes.

You've done this yourself?

I did.

That's great.

Thanks.

That's great. Because a lot of people use stylists. They do. But you clearly don't need one. You're not American, you're Australian, obviously.

Yes.

Which why do you think Australians are doing so, I mean, obviously you've done well always, but really now it's this whole Australian invasion. Why is that do you think?

'Cause we're awesome.

Cash under the table, maybe?

Maybe.

But you do live in LA now.

I do live in LA, yeah.

What do you miss most about Australia when you're here?

Um, the food.

Sell Australia now. Because I've never been. So pretend you're a tourist. Tourist guide. And this is like visit Australia. com.

Visit Australia. com. Yeah. Sell it. It's amazing. The beaches. I actually don't go to the beach here that much because I am so spoiled in Australia by the beaches. It's incredible. You you get to be in a cosmopolitan city in Sydney and have really awesome cocktails and food and then go to a beach that's gorgeous.

Me and Georgia are off to Australia.

Yeah, go on. I know. Georgia, you have to go through quarantine. She's not happy. We don't have rabies. I'm gonna go. Oh, she's coming. What can we expect from Princess Aslaug?

Okay. I'm not sure exactly what I can tell you. But um she's I you know, I like I I'm very defensive of her because she gets a bad rap. Okay. From some of the fans. Um and I think she's a little bit misunderstood. She's complex, you know. There's a lot going on. It's gonna take some time to sort of figure her out and I don't I don't want to tell people one way or the other sort of what she's about. Okay. People aren't gonna love me too much in episode one. I I sort of show up on a doorstep with a big surprise. I think I can tell you that much.

Absolutely brilliant. And Michael Hirst. Yes. How's it working with him?

Amazing.

Is he very hands on and very uh

He he lets us collaborate. We get um quite a bit of input when it comes to our characters, which is so lovely. It's it's such a great environment to work in. And Michael Hirst, who did Elizabeth, I couldn't believe it when I got the role. It's like, what? Are you kidding me? Who does that? He's historical pieces, he's a genius. Yeah. So yeah.

Um were you a you were a big fan obviously before.

Huge fan. Yeah. It's amazing getting to work with someone like that.

And uh yeah, you make quite the entrance. They found you uh bathing naked, basically.

Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. They did.

Oh, I mean, you're on TV. It wasn't like I wrote the script.

That's true. That's true. And I agreed to do it. So.

Yeah, you did. Was that nerve-wracking on on set? I mean

You know, it was really nerve-wracking like the thought of it was really nerve-wracking. And um and then on the day it was actually like, oh I get to hang out in nature under a waterfall. Naked. Skinny dipping. Right. It's kinda it was actually really freeing. And the really cool thing, it was um November in Ireland, which is pretty cold normally. They built me a hot tub in the rocks underneath the waterfall.

Was that your first time in Ireland?

No, I've been once before. Okay. Once before, but many years ago as a model on a job. I almost got kicked out of the country. I probably shouldn't talk about that.

Wow, getting kicked out of Ireland. You must have done something really bad.

They almost didn't let me in, I mean.

Okay, okay. That's different.

Yeah, that's a little different.

And when you're away filming in Ireland, what can't you be without? What like one thing do you have to when you travel, you've got to take with you?

I've got a pair of boots that I wear pretty much every day there that I've had for like 13 years. I've had them re-soled like five times and I literally wear them like every day in Ireland.

Yeah. So it's not really the same pair of boots. They've been re-soled five times.

They've been re-soled, but the rest of them is the same.

Okay. Just just the bottom of them. Just kidding. You must really like these boots.

I love them.

Is it a bit superstitious maybe?

No.

Okay. Not at all. 'Cause I do that with my underwear. Watch this young lady on season two of Vikings. Princess Aslaug. Beautiful. Princess.