"Paris is always a good idea," Audrey Hepburn famously said, and whether that holds true for Nordic warriors, as well, is something fans of the History Channel's hit series "Vikings" may find out in "Born Again," a new episode set to premiere on Thursday.

Hedeby villager Kalf and his fellow warriors are stepping up preparations for their planned Paris raid, and the Viking fleet will sail up the Seine and catch sight of the City of Lights for the first time, the channel revealed. Meanwhile, Rollo ponders the seer's prophecy about his destiny, and Porunn and Judith both deliver babies.

But "with new life, there is also death," the History Channel's official description warned ominously.

Fans of "Vikings," now in its third season, this week received encouraging news from Australian actor Travis Fimmel, who plays legendary warrior Ragnar Lothbrok on the show: There are "plenty more stories to write," the 35-year-old former model told Digital Spy, and the show's longevity depends entirely on creator Michael Hirst, who writes all its scripts.

"It's amazing that he writes every episode -- and I don't know how long he can keep doing that for. But good on him -- he's a brilliant writer," Fimmel said. "There are so many good stories about the Vikings. Ragnar's sons go on to do bigger and better things than he did, so there's plenty more stories to write," the actor added.

Hirst's genius is the reason "Vikings" is not "humourless and dull," as a series about the Nordic warriors could have turned out in less talented hands, Radio Times judged.

"The 'Tudors' creator ... made Henry VIII's court as soapy and steamy as a laundry, and with ... Fimmel bringing an irresistible boyish charisma to the central role ... this engaging mix of family drama, rustic politics and bloody violence quickly turns out to be highly addictive," the website's Paul Jones noted.

The History Channel drama also benefits from historical facts because its storyline is based on reasonably well-documented mythology, Jones added. Even though Fimmel's character is destined to eventually die in a snake pit -- if the series follows the records -- his sons, Viking leaders Ivar the Boneless and Bjorn Ironside, might pick up where Lothbrok left off.