Gustaf Skarsgard, a Swedish actor, was born on November 12, 1980. Outside of Scandinavia, he is best known for his portrayal of Floki the boatbuilder in the History Channel series Vikings, as well as his performances in the films Evil (2003), The Way Back (2010), and Kon-Tiki (2012). He also starred as Karl Strand in the HBO series Westworld's second season. In March 2019, Skarsgard was cast as Merlin in Cursed, a Netflix original television series based on a reimagining of the Arthurian tale. On July 17, 2020, the first season was launched.