What Happened to Katheryn Winnick?

By CelebPaid Editorial Team · 9 min read

Katheryn Winnick, 48, starred as Lagertha on Vikings and has since led series including Big Sky.Image via Wikimedia Commons

Lagertha: The Role That Defined Her

Katheryn Winnick, born December 17, 1977, in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, spent six seasons (2013-2020) playing Lagertha, the shield-maiden queen, on History's Vikings. Her performance, fierce, heartbroken, regal, made Lagertha one of television's great warrior characters and earned Winnick a devoted global following and award nominations.

A licensed martial artist (third-degree black belt in taekwondo, second-degree in karate) before acting, Winnick did many of her own stunts, and her physical credibility set her apart. When Lagertha died in season six, it was treated as the end of an era for the show.

Lagertha's death in season six, killed by a delusional Hvitserk, was one of the series' most mourned moments, with tributes pouring in from fans who had followed the shield-maiden for seven years. Winnick has called the role the gift of her career and stays in touch with the Vikings cast family.

Her 2018 People's Choice nomination for the role reflected Lagertha's cultural penetration: the shield-maiden as feminist icon, Halloween costume, tattoo inspiration. Few television characters of the 2010s inspired such devotion.

Before Vikings

Winnick's path was unconventional: a martial arts instructor who opened her own schools as a teenager, she transitioned to acting with small roles in Student Bodies and films, building credits through the 2000s: Amusement (2008), Choose (2010), A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2012), The Art of the Steal (2013), and a recurring role on Bones (2010-2011). Vikings, which she joined at 35, was her breakthrough after 15 years of grinding.

Her Bones recurring role (2010-2011) as Hannah Burley, Booth's journalist girlfriend, was her most visible pre-Vikings part, showcasing a charm and lightness her later warrior roles rarely required. The part demonstrated the range that Vikings would channel into steel.

Her Canadian television work, guest spots on Degrassi-era productions and indie films, was the decade-long grind before Vikings. The martial arts schools she ran as a teenager funded her early acting classes, a self-made path rare in the industry.

After Vikings: Leading Roles

Post-Vikings, Winnick moved straight into leading roles. She starred as Christine Gavin in Netflix's martial arts series Wu Assassins (2019), reuniting her fighting skills with a starring vehicle, and then headlined ABC's crime drama Big Sky (2020-2023) as Jenny Hoyt, a private detective, across three seasons.

Film roles continued alongside: the action thriller Polar (2019) with Mads Mikkelsen, The Marksman (2021) opposite Liam Neeson, and independent projects. She has been selective, favoring physically demanding roles that use her full skill set.

Her directing debut on television episodes showcased the same precision as her fight choreography: clear visual storytelling, trust in actors, and an action director's eye for geography. She has described directing as the natural evolution of her martial arts teaching, leadership through demonstration.

Directing and Producing

Winnick has expanded into directing, helming episodes of television, and developing projects as a producer. Her martial arts background gives her a natural affinity for action directing, and she has spoken about wanting to tell stories about strong women from behind the camera as well as in front of it.

She remains one of the few actresses who can credibly choreograph and perform her own fight scenes, a niche that keeps her in demand for action casting.

Personal Life

Winnick keeps her personal life private. She is known to be close to her Ukrainian-Canadian family, speaks Ukrainian, and has been an outspoken supporter of Ukraine. Her social media mixes advocacy, travel, and glimpses of her training regimen, which, at 48, remains formidable.

She has never married as publicly confirmed and rarely discusses relationships, preferring the focus to stay on her work.

Her training regimen at 48, daily martial arts practice, stunt choreography, strength work, is documented on social media to followers' awe. The discipline that built her career shows no signs of easing, and she credits it with her longevity in action roles.

Where Is Katheryn Winnick Now?

At 48, Katheryn Winnick is a working leading lady in an industry that often discards actresses at 40: headlining network dramas, starring in action films, and moving into directing. Her post-Vikings career is the rare case of a breakout star converting momentum into longevity.

What happened to Katheryn Winnick after Vikings is simple: she kept working, kept fighting (literally), and built the durable career her 15-year grind had prepared her for. Lagertha may be gone, but Winnick is just getting started behind the camera too.

Development producing projects, including action vehicles built around her unique skill set, represent her next frontier. At 48, with leading-lady credits, directing experience and a production pipeline, Winnick is building the multi-hyphenate career her teenage dojo-teaching self would recognize: still teaching, still fighting, still leading.

Her 2026 development slate, including a historical epic she would star in and produce, represents her ambitions beyond acting. The martial artist turned actress turned director turned producer shows no signs of stopping.

The Martial Arts Foundation

Winnick's fighting credentials are real and deep: a third-degree black belt in taekwondo and second-degree black belt in karate, earned through years of training that began in childhood. As a teenager she opened her own martial arts schools, teaching while still in school herself, an entrepreneurial streak that foreshadowed her producing ambitions.

The training shaped her acting: she performs her own stunts, choreographs fight sequences, and brings a fighter's physical intelligence to every action role. In an industry where action heroines often rely on doubles and editing, Winnick's authenticity is her edge, and directors seek her specifically for roles that demand real combat credibility.

Big Sky: Three Seasons

ABC's Big Sky (2020-2023), David E. Kelley's Montana crime drama, gave Winnick her biggest post-Vikings showcase as Jenny Hoyt, a complex private detective navigating the show's labyrinthine mysteries. Across three seasons, she anchored the series through cast changes and tonal shifts, her Jenny, tough, flawed, relentless, becoming a fan favorite.

The role proved her leading-lady durability on American network television, no small feat for a Canadian actress best known for a cable historical epic. Her chemistry with co-star Kylie Bunbury grounded the show's more outlandish plotlines, and her departure when the series ended was treated as the close of a significant chapter.

Ukrainian Roots and Advocacy

Winnick is of Ukrainian descent, speaks Ukrainian fluently, and has been an outspoken supporter of Ukraine since the 2022 invasion, using her platform for fundraising and awareness. Her advocacy is personal: family ties, cultural identity, and a sense of duty to use fame for something beyond herself.

She has participated in charity events, amplified Ukrainian voices on social media, and spoken about the war's impact on her family. In an industry where many stay silent on geopolitics, her clarity has earned respect, adding activist to her resume of fighter, actor and director.

Timeline

1977: Born in Etobicoke, Ontario. 1990s: Opens martial arts schools as a teen. 2000s: Acting grind: Bones, indie films. 2013-2020: Vikings as Lagertha. 2019: Wu Assassins, Polar. 2020-2023: Big Sky as Jenny Hoyt. 2021: The Marksman. 2026: At 48, acting, directing, advocating.

From The Art of the Steal to Polar

Winnick's filmography between television milestones shows her range: The Art of the Steal (2013) with Kurt Russell, the neo-noir Polar (2019) opposite Mads Mikkelsen as a lethal assassin, and The Marksman (2021) with Liam Neeson. Each role leveraged her physical credibility while demanding different emotional registers.

Polar in particular, a hyper-violent Netflix action film, let her cut loose as Vivian, a scene-stealing killer, proving she could hold the screen against established action stars. The film's cult following added a new demographic to her fanbase: action aficionados who value real fighting skill.

Wu Assassins

Netflix's Wu Assassins (2019) cast Winnick as Christine Gavin, a detective drawn into San Francisco's mystical underworld, opposite Iko Uwais. The role let her blend procedural acting with the martial arts spectacle the series was built on, and her fight scenes, choreographed with Uwais's team, were highlights.

Though the series lasted one season (plus a 2022 film, Fistful of Vengeance, without her), it expanded her streaming footprint and demonstrated her ability to anchor action ensembles. The show's cult following keeps it alive in recommendation algorithms.

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