Vikings TV studio building visitor centre as part of growth plans
The makers of the popular TV series Vikings will open up a visitor attraction as part of plans to expand its film and TV studio facility in County Wicklow, Ireland.
Ashford Studios is investing €90m (US$95m, £77m) in the expansion to allow the business to take on more projects. It would then boast four 40,000sq ft (3,716sq m) film studios and a TV studio, increasing the total size to 716,000 sq ft (66,518 sq m).
Ashford Studios owner Joe O’Connell is funding the work, after already spending €25m on the existing studios. The entrepreneur believes there is a demand for more TV and film studios to meet the growing workload from production companies like Netflix and Amazon.
“There is a risk involved, but I'm more confident about this than I was with the first phase. We've got to remain competitive, but the success of Vikings – which will film its fifth season here this summer – proves we can do that,” O’Connell told Ireland’s Independent newspaper. “Studios want purpose-built, state-of-the-art spaces, and this is what we're trying to give them. If this second phase is successful, we have space to add nine more studios here.”
Vikings is a historical drama written for the History channel and filmed in Ireland. It is in its fifth series, having debuted in 2013.
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