"I went to Michael and said 'I really liked that line. It's not the nicest thing for that woman to say, but I kind of like that. Do you think we could maybe put that back in?' He was more than happy to do that.

"The line was 'I don't want to be with my children'. This woman is a mother of four, she has four sons all under the age of eight. Her youngest son is disabled and is in excruciating amounts of pain, and just screams all day every day. She was the one that decided that this child should live. On a daily basis it is this confronting thing for her to hear this child in pain and to question whether she made the right choice. Plus she's got a husband with whom she's never really found her feet. She just wants a little moment for herself. I hope that that's relatable for a lot of women out there."

Sutherland, 32, says she knew very little about the history of the Vikings when she sent her audition tape to Hirst three years ago, and when she did a "chemistry read" with Travis Fimmel, who play King Ragnar. When Hirst told her she'd got the job, "I was all 'eager actress' about things: what's this all about, where's she from? He just said 'We'll get to that, just get to Ireland and we'll go over that'."

Sutherland was delighted to discover that the Viking political system treated women far more democratically than the Christians did: "Viking women, if they were left behind, were ruling their town. They were earls in their own right, they owned land in their own right, they could divorce their husbands if they wanted to. All of those wonderful allowances that were made for women in the Viking culture weren't really part of the Christian culture at the time."

Sutherland is back home in New York now, but is not at liberty to reveal whether Aslaug will continue into season 4: "When you're a Viking, you never know when you're going to get the axe. Aslaug goes through a real transition this season. She's on a mission to kind of redeem her identity, so to speak.  I can't tell you more. You'll certainly be entertained and shocked this season – it's insane."

Vikings season 3 starts on SBS1 at 8.30pm on Thursday.

Aussies a blessing for Hirst

British screenwriter Michael Hirst can't believe how blessed he's been by Australians. First he got Cate Blanchett to bring Elizabeth I to life in two movies he wrote (for one of which Blanchett was Oscar-nominated). Then, when Hirst wanted to convince the world that the Vikings have had a bum rap, he found not one but two Australians capable of portraying the depths of his main characters – King Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) and Queen Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland), who steals Ragnar's heart from his first wife.

"I said I want a totally new Viking, I don't want a cliche Viking – I want introverted, I want thoughtful, I want a deep person," Hirst told me, as SBS prepares to launch season 3. "I kept getting all these English pretty boys and I said 'No, no, no'. Travis is a farmer. For the audition, he recorded a scene in his kitchen in the outback. He didn't try to be a Viking but he seemed very thoughtful. I thought 'He's my guy'.

"Ragnar's first wife, Lagertha, was hugely popular all over the world. She's a feminist icon ... Aslaug is so beautiful, slightly ethereal, she's more from the spiritual part of the Viking experience. The audience for the show were against her because she took Ragnar away from Lagertha, but I've tried to build her up as an interesting and powerful figure. I got her to reconnect with the deep Viking roots of her personality, which to us is rather dark.

"I love Travis. He did something for me that I hoped would happen – he's reinvented the Viking. Alyssa has come along and also been absolutely tremendous, and taken on a very difficult role. In some curious way we are rooted in some Australian experience that I never, ever expected."

In portraying the Vikings as explorers and storytellers rather than rapists and murderers, Hirst says he is presenting an "authentic" interpretation of the facts of history. His series has been compared with Game of Thrones (for its violence and epic scope) and Downton Abbey (for its attention to detail). Hirst scorns both comparisons.

"Game of Thrones is a fantasy series in which there's a lot of gratuitous sex and violence. In Game of Thrones you start a scene with two semi-naked women and then some guys come in and the real scene starts. We don't do that. Downton Abbey is silly –  a ridiculous view of English society which Americans, bless them, still like. It's another fantasy. It's so trivial it's embarrassing.

"Vikings is very serious and very real. At its heart it's about the fight between pagan gods and Christianity, which is a very intellectual subject. You can learn from history, you can understand something about yourself, your culture and your people, which you can't from fantasy ... These [Viking] people, who were driven by curiosity and a desire for fame, have never had their day in the sunlight. I'm giving them their day."

The Bogies begin

Voting has now closed in the obscure popularity contest known as The Logies, but nominations have only just opened in the far more significant poll known as The Bogies.  Whereasthe Logies claim to celebrate the best in Australian television, the Bogies seek your view on the most annoying, embarrassing, manipulative and ridiculous people, programs and stations on Australian television. The Logie winners will be announced in a shimmering ceremony at a casino on May 3. The Bogie winners will be announced here in The Tribal Mind the same day.

At this point we're seeking your suggestions on categories and candidates. Last year's Bogie categories included Smuggest talent quest judge (won by Kyle Sandilands); Network most contemptuous of viewers (Nine); Least real "Reality" show (The Bachelor Australia); Most insidious use of breasts to exploit viewers' base instincts (Fat Tony & Co); Most embarrassing program (The Bolt Report); and Furthest past use-by date (Two and a Half Men). The Black Bogie was shared by Eddie McGuire, David Koch and Andrew Bolt.

This year we're thinking of adding some new categories, such as Most incomprehensible plotting (candidates would include The Code, State of Affairs, Fortitude and How To Get Away With Murder); Messiest retelling of real events (Gallipoli, the 60 Minutes siege special, House of Hancock?); Least deserving of renewal (Big Brother, Wonderland, Resurrection?); and Biggest waste of the ABC's reduced budget (Hiding, Jillaroo School, The Chaser's Media Circus?). And should we dare to suggest that Pete Evans, Manu Fieldel, Scott Cam and Shaun Micallef are drawing perilously close to their use-by dates?

To suggest new categories, to nominate candidates for the existing categories and to generally make more mischief, email us at thetribalmind@gmail.com or visit smh.com.au/entertainment/blog/the-tribal-mind.