‘Rivals’ Renewed For Season 2!!

Romance fans just keep winning! A little over a month after Rivals wrapped things up with Season 1, Hulu has renewed the hit series for a second season. Set in 1986, the series is based on Jilly Cooper‘s similarly titled book series, which is set in the fictional English county of Rutshire—a pun on the rutting that takes place throughout the saucy novel—and now television series. Like the novel, the series is full of wit, romantic entanglements, sex and unforgettable characters, made better by the drama, excess, and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of England’s ruthless world of independent television.

The news comes as a relief to fans who were treated to a pretty jaw-dropping Season 1 finale that saw Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams) take down Corinium’s ruthless managing director, Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), following Venturer’s winning bid. But more importantly, the finale finally paid off the sizzling chemistry between Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and Taggie (Bella Maclean), who he spent the majority of the season trying to put to bed his feelings for. Their kiss could easily go down in history as one of the hottest kisses on TV this decade.

In an era where far too many promising series get cancelled before their second season, Rivals‘ renewal is a heartening bit of news for fans of the romance genre. Just last month, Hulu renewed The Artful Dodger for a second season, after making fans wait nearly a year to learn of its fate. While the similarly popular historical romance My Lady Jane was cancelled at Prime Video after one season.

‘Rivals’ Is a Winning Bid for Hulu

Rivals was met with widespread critical acclaim, which is what prompted EMEA Disney+ with Happy Prince (part of ITV Studios) to officially renew the hit UK Original series for Season 2. In addition to Tennant, Williams, Hassell, and Maclean, the series stars Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson, Emily Atack, Catriona Chandler, Oliver Chris, Danny Dyer, Rufus Jones, Lisa McGrillis, Luke Pasqualino, Claire Rushbrook, and Victoria Smurfit. Rivals is executive produced by Dominic Treadwell-Collins, Alexander Lamb, Felicity Blunt, Elliot Hegarty, Olivier Award-winning playwright Laura Wade, author Dame Jilly Cooper, and for Disney+ EMEA Scripted Content, Jonny Richards.