Exclusive Interview
Hulu
What To Know
- The second half of Rivals Season 2 will focus on heightened drama and angst between Rupert and Taggie, especially after Monica’s death.
- The Rivals EP teases how the tragedy will deeply affect Rupert and impact all the relationships in his life.
- Rivals Season 2 will return on November 11.
We’re ready to get back to Rutshire. There are a number of weeks to go before the second half of Rivals Season 2 premieres on Hulu. With how the midseason finale left everything, copious levels of drama and angst lie ahead.
When Swooon spoke with Dominic Treadwell-Collins for our June digital cover story with Alex Hassell and Bella Maclean, we did save some morsels of scoop regarding what to expect when the show returns. Rutag stans, stay strong.
“With Monica’s death, he’s going to push Taggie away even more, and Taggie is going to have had enough of it, and that’s going to send Taggie on a whole new ‘go away, Rupert’ trajectory, and then the audience should be hopeful that she and Rupert will realize that they’re meant to be together,” Treadwell-Collins said. “They’ve got a little bit of a journey to go on, but they’ve got to both grow up a little bit before they get there, to be honest with you, and the events of Episode 6 really make it a lot harder for them, but there’s hope.”
The hurricane changed everything for the citizens of Rutshire. Monica (Claire Rushbrook) was killed as she drove Caitlin (Catriona Chandler) home in the middle of the storm, just after she’d discovered Maud (Victoria Smurfit) and Tony’s (David Tennant) affair. Rupert, who had ventured out with Declan (Aidan Turner) to find Monica and Caitlin, was with Monica in her final moments.
Disney
Monica’s death will have a profound impact on Rupert moving forward. “It’s going to be interesting how Helen reacts to him afterwards because she knows him really, really well, and she will see the pain that he’s in. There’s some really nice stuff for Hayley [Atwell] and for Alex coming up,” the EP said.
“She knows him so well, and it’s really important,” he added. “We’ve talked about this as well, about how important it is that Helen sees what Rupert is going through, and Helen is a reminder for Rupert of how he can destroy someone, but she’s also grown up enough to know that maybe he can change, and she wants him to change.”
How will Rupert react when he realizes pushing Taggie away has only driven her into the arms of Bas Baddingham (Luca Pasqualino)? Rutshire locals need to hide their fine china. (IYKYK)
Rivals, Season 2, Part 2 Premiere, November 11, Hulu and Disney+
