'Rivals' Season 2 Adds Four Episodes as Filming Begins

Get ready for an extended trip back to Rutshire. Season 2 of Hulu's soapy, throwback drama Rivals has officially started filming, and its second outing is going to be supersized. Disney+ and Hulu announced that its order has been expanded to 12 episodes, up from the eight that comprised the first season. If you follow the workings of the television industry at all, you're probably already aware that this sort of move is exceedingly rare, and a sign of the streamers' faith in the show.

Based on the bestselling series of novels by Dame Jilly Cooper, Rivals ostensibly follows the titular rivalry between former Olympian turned Tory politician Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and ambitious television executive Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant). But the series ultimately took some liberties with its source material, fleshing out some secondary characters and adding some unexpected narrative swerves along the way. Its first season ended with drama of the professional, journalistic, and romantic variety, and leaves plenty of intriguing questions for its second to deal with (and which I will not spoil for you here).

The production announcement came with some behind-the-scenes footage of the Season 2 table read, and a photo of Tennant's script. This move would seem to put to rest one of the key questions raised by Season 1's cliffhanger ending, which saw Tony left for dead in a pool of blood on the floor of his office after being [redacted] by [redacted]. Whether he's permanently injured in some way or just really pissed off is a question the second outing will have to answer, but it seems likely that some level of over the top vengeance will likely be on Tony's agenda next season.