Erling Haaland is heading to the big screen for the first time, joining the cast of the upcoming animated film Viqueens as a Viking version of himself. The 25-year-old will voice an animated character also called Haaland in Harald Zwart’s adventure-comedy, which is currently in production.
The move gives one of football’s most recognizable names a place in a story set among fearless warrior girls, icy fjords and Silk Road mythology. Viqueens is Zwart’s first animated feature, and Sola Media is handling worldwide sales.
Haaland’s screen debut lands with a built-in profile that few sports figures can match. He owns the Premier League’s single-season scoring record with 36 goals for Manchester City in the 2022-23 campaign, and he became the fastest player in history to reach 100 goals, doing it in 105 matches. Zwart said the idea of bringing the striker into the film was “incredibly exciting,” describing him as a real-life Viking icon who is powerful, fearless and distinctly Norwegian.
The director said giving Haaland a role as himself adds an energy and authenticity that fit the project. That matters because Viqueens is not a standard celebrity cameo vehicle; it is being built as a broad animated adventure-comedy with Rita Ora and Ella Purnell in the lead roles as Hedvig and Ingrid, alongside Steve Speirs as King Erik, Anton Lesser as his scheming brother Lars and Alan Carr as the Bard. Christophe Beck is writing the original score.
Haaland has long been compared to a Viking warrior because of his height, physique, speed and hair, a reputation that this casting turns into part of the film’s pitch. For Zwart, whose first animated feature is still in production, the choice also gives Viqueens a headline-making hook as it moves through the market. The unanswered question is not whether the cameo will attract attention; it is whether the film can turn that attention into a wider audience once it arrives.
The announcement also adds another entry to the striker’s unusual off-pitch profile, following recent attention around his name in football coverage such as Erling Haaland debuta en el cine dando voz a un vikingo en ViQueens, while his on-field dominance continues to keep him in the conversation alongside players featured in discussions like Antoine Semenyo absent du débat: Fernandes, Rice et Haaland dominent and Semenyo in the spotlight as Fernandes, Rice and Haaland shape award race. For now, though, the headline is simpler: Haaland is making his film debut, and he is doing it as a Viking in a Norwegian animated adventure built around him.
